Frank Sinatra: A Man And His Music + Ella + Jobim - Region 2

Sinatra shares two medleys with Ella, who is in magisterial form, and in between he sings a bossa nova medley to the accompaniment of Jobim’s guitar. The concert gets off to a cracking start with a Sinatra favourite "Day In Day Out", the arrangement emphasising the "drum-athon" theme of the show, whereby the rhythm section of the orchestra show off their prowess in a series of beat-driven arrangements. Sinatra sets this up with some amusing banter as we follow him to a rostrum where a superb bass player (unnamed) picks out the walking bass line of "Get Me to the Church On Time" which builds inexorably to a pounding finish. He then sings the bolero "What Now My Love?" to a brilliantly executed freewheeling trombone line, and recalls "Ol’ Man River" as though he were improvising it on the spot.

Ella brings her heart and soul appropriately enough to "Body and Soul" before ripping up the joint with "It’s All Right with Me". In their first medley there are some happy exchanges between Ella and Frank. The medley ends with them chanting "Goin’ Out of My Head", a pop song likely to bring on a state of catatonic boredom. The Jobim medley has one unintentionally funny moment when Sinatra with cigarette in hand sings to Jobim Irving Berlin’s "Change Partners" ("Must you dance every dance, with the same fortunate man") without a flicker of expression. The second Ella/Frank medley is a corker led off by "The Song is You". The artists are so entertaining that you almost forget the backdrop, a hideous orange set. After a camp pirouette or two Sinatra sobers up by putting his dreams away.

On the DVD: as with other discs in this series there is the obligatory trailer with Sinatra arriving at an empty sound stage, only for the picture to burst into life for a cut away shot of him singing "I’ve Got You Under My Skin". Subtitles are available. The soundtrack is perfectly respectable and wears its 30-odd years lightly. --Adrian Edwards