‘L.A. Is My Lady’: Frank Sinatra’s Gloriously Golden Swan Song

Frank Sinatra didn’t appear troubled by superstition when he arrived at New York’s A&R Studios on Friday the 13th, in April 1984 to begin work on his 57th album, L.A. Is My Lady. The project reunited him with record producer Quincy Jones, then basking in acclaim for his work on Thriller, Michael Jackson’s history-making blockbuster album. “The Voice” and “The Dude” had worked together in the studio before, on the 1964 LP It Might As Well Be Swing. After that, the pair’s schedules took them in different directions but in 1982, Sinatra, who hadn’t made an album since 1981’s She Shot Me Down, agreed to work with Jones on a duets project with jazz singer, Lena Horne. When Horne could not commit, the project was aborted. Sinatra and Jones, however, joined forces for a new venture: L.A. Is My Lady.

By the spring of 1984 when L.A. Is My Lady was recorded, studio technology had advanced to the point where 24-track recordings controlled by computerized mixing desks were becoming the norm. Sinatra disliked overdubbing and preferred making his records by singing live with his musicians in real-time. That approach required meticulous preparation, as Jones recalled in Sinatra – Portrait Of An Album, a fly-on-the-wall film documenting the album’s birth. “We came in three hours early to get all the notes straightened out and everything,” he revealed. “I learned 20 years ago when working with Frank and Count Basie that it’s a good idea to really have your homework done and have everything well-planned.”

Listen to the expanded edition of Frank Sinatra’s L.A. Is My Lady now.

Renowned for nailing his vocals quickly, Sinatra believed in spontaneity, which meant that Jones and his trusted engineer Phil Ramone were under pressure to deliver. “Frank doesn’t like to linger,” explained Jones. “He condenses his energy and puts it all together, and as a perfectionist, he goes for it in the moment. You might not get more than one or two takes, so it’s good if everybody’s ready.”

In assembling a studio big band, Jones brought in the best musicians he could find, which combined jazz veterans like vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and bassist Ray Brown with contemporary stars such as guitarist George Benson and keyboardist Bob James. All those involved in the project were seasoned professionals with years of experience. Even so, many were apprehensive as they waited for “The Chairman” to enter the studio. “I had fears that I hadn’t had in years,” confessed Ramone. “What was going on in the room before Frank arrived was the kind of tension you’d expect at Yankee Stadium before you go out and bat in the World Series.”

Sinatra cut eleven tracks in four three-hour sessions between April and May 1984. Apart from the opening title song, a concession to streamlined contemporary pop defined by Jones’ slick production values, the album was characterized by well-known jazz standards. They ranged from “Teach Me Tonight” – for which its co-writer Sammy Cahn wrote a new, specially commissioned verse – to a swinging take on Cole Porter’s “It’s All Right With Me,” and “Stormy Weather,” a song indelibly associated with Lena Horne. Sinatra also offered a playful rendition of “Mack The Knife,” the Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht classic that Bobby Darin retooled as a swinging saloon anthem in 1959.

With his magnetic performances, Sinatra, then 69, showed that his talent hadn’t diminished with age. Although he would return to the studio in the early 1990s to record Duets, a star-studded collaboration with contemporary pop royalty, and its sequel Duets II, L.A. Is My Lady was his final studio venture as a solo singer. A gloriously golden swansong, it proved a memorable capstone, ending a remarkable career with a spectacular big band flourish.

Listen to the expanded edition of Frank Sinatra’s L.A. Is My Lady now.