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Wha???!!!!
Frank's voice was unendingly fantastic. Rich, deep tone. A bit of a raspy edge, wind to spare. He could turn on a dime.
His vocal gift was monumental. Pair this with exquisite phrasing and then you have the greatest singer of American song ever, no contest
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..........I think blim makes a good point, I think there were def better voices around..and to be honest increasingly as his career progressed, I think Mr Sinatra took less care in maintaining his voice, he was after all an entertainer first and foremost as well as an icon FIlm work, interviews, carousing with the rat pack, cigarettes, booze.....are all going to compromise, vocal health, tone, range etc The early recordings I think, where the tone is like many singers of that period a little more bel canto are fantastic, this was someone after all who was determined to try and match the fantastic breathcontrol of his mentor Tommy dorsey and approached that task with characteristic focus and determination. However I think Mr sinatra realised that what set him apart from other "singers" wasn't tone or range or dynamic cotrol or even perfection of pitch....in all these areas there were others who were superior, hell Sammy davis jnr would have sung Sinatra under the table in a pure-ly "singing" competition. Clearly though he spoke to a whole generation.....you know the guy who comes home from the office after a hard day and pours himself a stiff one. What better soundtrack to his imagination than Sinatra's slightly dry, unsentimental way with a lyric and an unashamedly "masculine" persona. On a side note a different perspective on the american songbook can be found with Gordon Macrae's Capitol recordings....he's a different singer no doubt but I think the melanlcholy timbre he brings to "My funny valentine" and "Spring is here" are pretty much unsurpassed....of course he can't swing like sinatra but the arrangements support his singing perfectly.