It Might as Well Be Swing

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Allmusic	[1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[2]

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.

This was Sinatra and Basie's second collaboration after 1962's Sinatra-Basie.

Sinatra's cover version of "Hello Dolly" on the album features a new second verse improvised by Sinatra, which pays tribute to Louis Armstrong, who had topped the Billboard charts with his own version of the song earlier in 1964.

It Might as Well Be Swing is a reference to the title of the well known jazz standard "It Might as Well Be Spring".

Track listing

1. "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" (Bart Howard) - 2:30
2. "I Wish You Love" (Léo Chauliac, Charles Trenet, Albert Beach) - 2:56
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
6. "Hello, Dolly!" (Jerry Herman) - 2:45
7. "I Wanna Be Around" (Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt) - 2:25
8. "The Best Is Yet to Come" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) - 3:10
9. "The Good Life" (Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon) - 2:30
10. "Wives and Lovers" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 2:50

Personnel

• Frank Sinatra - vocals
• Count Basie - piano
• Quincy Jones - arranger, conductor

The Count Basie Orchestra

• Al Porcino, Don Rader, Wallace Davenport, Al Aarons, George Cohn and Harry "Sweets" Edison - trumpets
• Henry Coker, Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes, Henderson Chambers and Kenny Shroyer - trombones
• Frank Foster, Charles Fowlkes, Marshal Royal, Frank Wess and Eric Dixon - reeds
• Emil Richards - vibraphone
• George Catlett - double bass
• Freddie Green - guitar
• Sonny Payne - drums

String section

• Gerald Vinci, Israel Baker, Jacques Gasselin, Thelma Beach, Bonnie Douglas, Marshall Sosson, Erno Neufeld, Lou Raderman, Paul Shure and James Getzoff - violins
• Virginia Majewski, Paul Robyn, Alvin Dinkin and Stan Harris - violas
• Edgar Lustgarten and Ann Goodman - cellos

Production

• Sonny Burke - producer
• Lowell Frank - engineer
• Ted Allen - cover photo
• Gregg Geller - 1998 reissue producer
• Lee Herschberg - 20-bit digital mastering

References