Classic Duets is a compilation of songs Frank Sinatra recorded under Capitol Records. The album was released in 2002.
As the name suggests, this album features songs that were only duets. This album's theme features not only studio recordings of duets Sinatra made, but also, the album is riddled with live performances made by Sinatra alongside his duet partners.
The album was released with an intentional similar art style to Sinatra's initial duets album, his 1993 Capitol album, Duets. The album's cover may resemble Duets and Duets II, but the recordings of this album were made entirely different.
Duets[]
The album features a total of twenty-one songs, all of which duets, but not all of which with the a different duet partner. Sinatra performs three different duets, "Can't We Be Friends?," a melody of "Moonlight in Vermont" and "I May Be Wrong," and, closing the album, "Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)," with "The First Lady of Song" herself, Ella Fitzgerald. "Side by Side" on this album was song alongside Sinatra's daughter Nancy as well as the Tri-Tones, and Nancy reappears near the end of the album to perform "You Make Me Feel So Young" with her father.
Sinatra goes back to Rat-Pack routes with a few of these performances as well. Dean Martin appears on the album alongside Bing Crosby to sing with Sinatra on "Together." Martin returns to the album, performing nine songs in a five-minute melody – "Sunday, Monday or Always," "On a Slow Boat to China," "Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)," "Memories Are made of This," "The Girl that I Marry," "Innamorata," "I've Got a Crush on You," "Oh, Marie," and "Don't Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go)" – alongside Sinatra. Sammy Davis, Jr. takes the next track of the album, featuring Sinatra and Davis, Jr.'s interpretation of "Me and My Shadow."
Another interesting duet on this album is Sinatra's first release of his duet with "The King of Rock 'n' Roll," Elvis Presley. The King's representation of Sinatra's "Witchcraft" falls short while compared to Sinatra's swinging through the King's "Love Me Tender." Sinatra later recorded "Love Me Tender" on his own for his 1980 album, Trilogy: Past Present Future.
Sinatra performs a duet with Lena Horne of several songs written by Harold Arlen in the last leg of this album. Horne is one of the few artists that was selected to perform in Sinatra's 1990s Duets projects, performing "Embraceable You" alongside Sinatra.
Track listing[]
- "The Birth of the Blues" (Ray Henderson, Buddy G. DeSylva, Lew Brown) (with Louis Armstrong) - 3:23
- "I'll Never Smile Again" (Ruth Lowe) (with The Hi-Lo's) - 2:10
- "Can't We Be Friends?" (Paul James, Kay Swift) (with Ella Fitzgerald) - 3:04
- Medley: "You Make Me Feel So Young"/"Them There Eyes"/"A Foggy Day (In London Town)"/"I've Got You Under My Skin"/"Taking a Chance on Love"/"They Can't Take That Away From Me"/"All of Me"/"Daddy"/"I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby"/"You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" (Josef Myrow, Mack Gordon)/(Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber, William Tracey)/(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)/(Cole Porter)/(Vernon Duke, John La Touche, Ted Fetter)/(G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)/(Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons)/(Bob Troup)/(Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields)/(Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer) (with Dinah Shore) - 5:50
- "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) (with Peggy Lee) - 2:31
- "Side by Side" (Gus Kahn, Harry M. Woods) (with the Tri-Tones) - 2:14
- "Something's Gotta Give" (Mercer) (with the McGuire Sisters) - 2:16
- "If I Loved You" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) (with Shirley Jones) - 3:26
- "Together" (Henderson, DeSylva, Brown) (with Dean Martin and Bing Crosby) - 3:44
- "High Hopes" (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) (with the Kids) - 2:43
- Medley: "Sunday, Monday or Always"/"On a Slow Boat to China"/"Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)"/"Memories Are Made of This"/"The Girl That I Marry"/"Innamorata"/"I've Got a Crush on You"/"Oh, Marie"/"Don't Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go)" (Van Heusen, Johnny Burke)/(Frank Loesser)/(Cahn, Jule Styne)/(Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, Frank Miller)/(Irving Berlin)/(Warren, Jack Brooks)/(G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)/(Eduardo di Capua)/(Joe Marsala) (with Dean Martin) - 4:49
- "Me and My Shadow" (Al Jolson, Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer) (with Sammy Davis, Jr.) - 2:38
- "September Song" (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) (with Bing Crosby) - 1:57
- "You're the Top" (Porter) (with Ethel Merman) - 1:39
- "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (Clarence Gaskill, McHugh) (with Louis Prima and Keely Smith) - 1:05
- Harold Arlen Medley: "As Long as I Live"/"It's Only a Paper Moon"/"One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)"/"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"/"Stormy Weather"/"Get Happy"/"Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler)/(Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, Rose)/(Arlen, Mercer)/(Arlen, Mercer)/(Arlen, Koehler)/(Arlen, Koehler) (with Lena Horne) - 3:59
- "You Make Me Feel So Young" (with Nancy Sinatra) - 1:55
- Medley: "Witchcraft"/"Love Me Tender" + Reprise (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh)/(George R. Poulton, W.W. Fosdick) (with Elvis Presley) - 2:15
- "Love Is Here to Stay" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) (with Peggy Lee) - 2:22
- Medley: "Moonlight in Vermont"/"I May Be Wrong" (Jack Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf)/(Harry Ruskin) (with Ella Fitzgerald) - 4:33
- "Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)" (Lowe, Paul Mann, Stephen Weiss) (with Ella Fitzgerald) - 0:44
Personnel[]
| Maxwell Anderson | Composer |
| Louis Armstrong | Primary Artist |
| John Blackburn | Composer |
| Lew Brown | Composer |
| Wendy Brueder | Project Manager |
| Sammy Cahn | Composer |
| Cy Coleman | Composer |
| Frank Collura | Producer |
| Bing Crosby | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Sammy Davis, Jr. | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Buddy DeSylva | Composer |
| Dave Dreyer | Composer |
| Andy Engel | Illustrations |
| Robert Finkelstein | Executive Producer |
| Ella Fitzgerald | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Clarence Gaskill | Composer |
| George Gershwin | Composer |
| Ira Gershwin | Composer |
| Mack Gordon | Composer |
| Brendan Gormley | Editorial Supervision |
| Oscar Hammerstein II | Composer |
| Ray Henderson | Composer |
| James Van Heusen | Composer |
| The Hi-Lo's | Primary Artist |
| Lena Horne | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Paul James | Composer |
| Al Jolson | Composer |
| Carmell Jones | Primary Artist |
| Bryan Kelley | Producer |
| Kids | Performer, Primary Artist |
| Peggy Lee | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Jose Legaspi | Package Design |
| Carolyn Leigh | Composer |
| Ruth Lowe | Composer |
| Paul Mann | Composer |
| Dean Martin | Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Vera Matson | Composer |
| The McGuire Sisters | Primary Artist |
| Jimmy McHugh | Composer |
| Johnny Mercer | Composer |
| Ethel Merman | Primary Artist |
| Josef Myrow | Composer |
| LeRoy Neiman | Cover Painting |
| Charles Pignone | Liner Notes, Producer, Transcription |
| Cole Porter | Composer |
| Elvis Presley | Composer, Guest Artist, Primary Artist |
| Louis Prima | Primary Artist |
| Richard Rodgers | Composer |
| Billy Rose | Composer |
| Dinah Shore | Primary Artist |
| Frank Sinatra | Primary Artist |
| Frank Sinatra, Jr. | Liner Notes |
| Nancy Sinatra | Guest Artist, Liner Notes, Primary Artist |
| Tina Sinatra | Liner Notes |
| Keely Smith | Primary Artist |
| Barrie Smithers | Producer |
| Tommy Steele | Art Direction |
| Karl Suessdorf | Composer |
| Kay Swift | Composer |
| Tri-Tones | Primary Artist |
| Larry Walsh | Digital Remastering |
| Shannon Ward | Producer |
| Kurt Weill | Composer |
| George David Weiss | Composer |