Song of the Day 4/21: Frank Sinatra, “I Have Dreamed”
Philadelphia disc jockey Sid Mark, host of the nationally syndicated “Sounds of Sinatra” radio program that aired locally on WPHT-AM as “Sundays With Sinatra,” died this week at age 88. He had been playing Frank Sinatra’s music over the airwaves for more than 65 years, and closed every show with this Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from “The King and I,” recorded by Sinatra in 1963.
That was the voice of the weekends if my childhood. He was definitely an icon of Philadelphia radio.
While other saloon singers might have had ‘better’ voices, however you define that, nobody interpreted songs better than Sinatra. His voice was in service to the song.
What sets him even further apart are those sumptuous arrangements, which I find endlessly fascinating.
In this case, that’s Nelson Riddle leading a 76-piece orchestra.
He and Gordon Jenkins were the two key arrangers, right? Not to mention when Frank performed with jazz luminaries.
I always liked Costa’s work but then again i preferred the battle worn introspective sound of the later sinatra music
Sid Mark’s show was my introduction to Sinatra in the late ’80s.
Sinatra was one of the first singers to master the new-fangled microphones to capture and make art from previously unnoticed nuances, and to generate a sense of intimacy.