It Might as Well Be Swing

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It Might as Well Be Swing
Itmightaswellbeswing.jpg
Studio album by
Frank Sinatra
ReleasedAugust 1964 (LP)
October 1986 (CD)
RecordedJune 9–12, 1964, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Genre Vocal jazz, traditional pop
Length27:22
Label Reprise
FS 1012
Producer Sonny Burke
Frank Sinatra chronology
Robin and the 7 Hoods
(1964)		It Might as Well Be Swing
(1964)		 12 Songs of Christmas
(1964)
Count Basie chronology
Basie Land
(1963)		It Might as Well Be Swing
(1964)		 Our Shining Hour
(1964)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

It Might as Well Be Swing is a 1964 studio album by Frank Sinatra, accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra. It was Sinatra's first studio recording arranged by Quincy Jones.

Contents

Overview

The recording of "Fly Me to the Moon" which appears on this album has become one of Sinatra's most popular. This was Sinatra and Basie's second collaboration after 1962's Sinatra-Basie . [1] Sinatra's cover version of "Hello, Dolly!" on the album features a new second verse improvised by Sinatra, which pays tribute to Louis Armstrong, [4] who had topped the Billboard charts with his own version of the song earlier in 1964. [5] Whilst "Wives and Lovers" was in 3
4 time, the performance in the album was in 4
4 time; according to Bacharach, the record's producer Quincy Jones said "the Basie band can't play in 3
4." [6] It Might as Well Be Swing is a reference to the title of the well known jazz standard "It Might as Well Be Spring".

Chart performance

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated August 22, 1964, peaking at No. 13 during a thirty-one-week run on the chart. [7] It debuted on Cashbox magazine's Top Albums chart in the issue dated August 15, 1964, peaking at No. 13 on the Top Monoraul Albums chart during a nineteen-week run on it. The album reached No. 15 on the Top Stereo Albums chart during the same-week run on it. [8] In the UK the album reached a lower position of No. 17. [9]

Reception

The initial Record World magazine review stated that "Frank and Count Basie make a stunning combination", continuing "and along with Quincy Jones arrangements, they can't be bettered. The sound is brassy and upbeat." [4] The Record Mirror review stated that Sinatra is "better than ever on this Quincy Jones-arranged set, with his work on "Can't Stop Loving You" just about the last word in intelligent interpretation," noting "This swings for every groove of the way. So does the whole album." [2]

The retrospective by review Stephen Thomas Erlewine on AllMusic stated that "It Might as Well Be Swing, was a more structured, swing-oriented set than Sinatra-Basie , and in many ways the superior album." He also said that "Both Basie and Sinatra manage to play with the melodies and the beat, even though the album never loses sight of its purpose as a swing album. However, what makes It Might as Well Be Swing more successful is the consistently high level of the performances." [1]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" Bart Howard 2:30
2."I Wish You Love" Léo Chauliac, Charles Trenet, Albert Beach2:56
3."I Believe in You" Frank Loesser 2:21
4."More (Theme from Mondo Cane)" Riz Ortolani, Nino Oliviero, Marcello Ciorciolini, Norman Newell 3:05
5."I Can't Stop Loving You" Don Gibson 3:00
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Hello, Dolly!" Jerry Herman 2:45
7."I Wanna Be Around" Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt2:25
8."The Best Is Yet to Come" Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh 3:10
9."The Good Life" Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon2:30
10."Wives and Lovers" Burt Bacharach, Hal David 2:50
Total length:27:22

Personnel

The Count Basie Orchestra

Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Chart (1964)Peak
position
UK Record Retailer Top Albums [9] 17
US Billboard Top LPs [7] 13
US Cashbox Top Albums [8] 13

References

  1. 1 2 3 It Might as Well Be Swing at AllMusic.
  2. 1 2 Jones, Peter (September 18, 1964). "Frank Sinatra And Count Basie: It Might As Well Be Swing" (PDF). Record Mirror . No. 184. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  3. ↑ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 20. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
  4. 1 2 "Record World Album Reviews". Record World . Vol. 18, no. 895. August 1, 1964. p. 20. Retrieved December 5, 2025– via worldradiohistory.com.
  5. ↑ Bronson, Fred. The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (2003), Billboard Books, ISBN   0-8230-7677-6
  6. ↑ Simpson, Dave (May 21, 2015). "Burt Bacharach: Marlene Dietrich's music sucked! But I liked her". The Guardian. Retrieved May 21, 2015. It was the same thing with Sinatra and the Count Basie band, with Quincy Jones producing. They did Wives and Lovers, which is in 3/4 time, but they did it in 4/4. I said, "Quincy, what happened?" He said: "The Basie band can't play in 3/4."
  7. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1945–1972. Record Research. p. 134. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  8. 1 2 Hoffmann, Frank W. (1975). The Cash Box Album Charts, 1955–1974. Scarecrow Press. p. 342. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  9. 1 2 All except noted: "Frank Sinatra | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
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