New Sinatra Society of Japan releases

Reproduced above are the obi strips from the forthcoming (Feb. 22) five new releases of the Sinatra Society of Japan. Its first quintet of issues from last fall included two of my Cellar Door Records productions, Down in the Depths by Bill Black, and Rain Sometimes +1 by Pinky Winters and Richard Rodney Bennett.

The new batch includes another Cellar Door release, The Shadow of Your Smile: Pinky Winters Sings Johnny Mandel. . .with Lou Levy along with four other terrific vocal jazz recordings:

My Lucky Day David Allen / Allyn, arr. & cond. by Bob Florence
Sings & Swings + 1 Frankie Randall, arr. & cond. by Marty Paich
The Randall Way + 1 Frankie Randall, arr. & cond. by Billy May
Love Rosemary Clooney, arr. & cond. by Nelson Riddle

All that's missing in the arranging and conducting department is Bill Holman, or you would arguably have the five finest figures in modern big band arranging. The David Allen / Allyn album is especially welcome in stereo due to the fact that most of the original stereo pressings of this fine album were manufactured very badly, and there might have even been a problem with the original stereo master. But all of that has been solved here.

Both of the Randall CDs contain a bonus track of singles by Frankie that were never on albums, "Rosemary" and "Bewitched." The latter is from the Paich session, which features the great alto player Art Pepper.

The Clooney CD is considered one of her finest albums and features an unusal number of seldom-recorded but highly-regarded songs, including Marc Blitzstein's "I Wish It So" and "You Started Something" by Rinker and Huddleston.

All have extensive new Japanese liner notes included, written by Keizo Takada or Yasuo Sangu. The CDs are packaged in the popular carboard LP facsimile format.

All are available for pre-ordering from amazon.com , and the Pinky Winters-Lou Levy-Johnny Mandel is also obtainable from allmusicservices.com