In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours was his first 12-inch album, and in 1955 it went straight to the top of the charts. It’s a remarkable set of ballads, arranged by Nelson Riddle with a melancholy touch that fits these songs of loneliness and despair perfectly, while giving Sinatra the space to reveal a new depth as a vocalist.

By this point, anyone following the papers or the gossip columns knew that Sinatra’s love affair with actress Ava Gardner had ended badly, and it’s hard not to hear that background lending these performances an extra poignancy. Still, what really matters here is the singing itself. On this record, Sinatra reaches a whole new level, with a command of phrasing that would shape the rest of his career.

There’s also some beautiful piano playing from Bill Miller, which stands out in Riddle’s spare, elegant arrangements. Alongside the title track, In the Wee Small Hours by Bob Hilliard and David Mann, the album moves through a set of standards including Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo, Cole Porter’s What Is This Thing Called Love?, Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg’s Last Night When We Were Young, plus three songs by Rodgers & Hart.

If there’s one performance that sums it all up, it’s Hoagy Carmichael’s I Get Along Without You Very Well, a track that captures the mood of the whole album and shows just how powerful Sinatra had become as an interpreter of song.

With In the Wee Small Hours, the crooner who had once been the heartthrob of the nation’s Bobbysoxers gave way to the saloon singer who would become one of the defining musical figures of the 20th century, alongside Bing Crosby, Elvis, and The Beatles. A must-have for Sinatra fans, and the oldest record in this selection of ten essential Sinatra albums.