Capitol 1417
Producer: Dave Cavanaugh
Track listing: Nice ‘n’ Easy / That Old Feeling / How Deep Is the Ocean / I’ve Got a Crush on You / You Go to My Head / Fools Rush In / Nevertheless / She’s Funny That Way / Try a Little Tenderness / Embraceable You / Mam’selle / Dream / The Nearness of You / Someone to Watch Over Me / Day–Day Out / My One and Only Love
October 24, 1960
9 weeks stereo (nonconsecutive), 1 week mono
If 1958 was Frank Sinatra’s “Very Good Year,” 1959 wasn’t bad either. In that 12-month span Sinatra managed to land three albums in the top 10, including Come Dance with Me! and No One Cares. Both of those titles spent multiple weeks at number two, but were unable to reach the summit. However, Sinatra did pick up an album of the year Grammy for the former.
Nice ‘n’ Easy, Sinatra’s first and only album release of 1960, came nearly a year after No One Cares. For the sessions, held on March 1-3 at Capitol Records studios in Hollywood, Voyle Gilmore was replaced by Dave Cavanaugh in the control room, but Sinatra’s longtime conductor/arranger Nelson Riddle was still on board, marking his eighth album collaboration with the crooner.
Aside from the title track, which was a last-minute addition to the album (replacing “The Nearness Of You,” which was dropped), Nice ‘n’ Easy was comprised entirely of songs that Sinatra had previously recorded during his 1940-1953 tenure with Columbia Records. The material ranged from “Fools Rush In,” which Sinatra initially recorded in 1940 as a vocalist for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, to “Day In–Day Out,” which the crooner debuted on a radio program in 1953.
The songs were special to Sinatra and to many of the instrumentalists in Riddle’s orchestra as well. “One of the first solos I ever did on a record was on ‘How Deep Is the Ocean,'” says bass trombone player George Roberts, who credits Riddle with giving him the additional exposure.
Roberts also has kind words for Sinatra. “He may not know it, but my feeling is that Sinatra is probably one of the greatest trombone teachers in the world,” he says. “If you sit down and listen to him sing and try to emulate what he does, you’ll be a hell of a trombone player. I try to play trombone like the way he sings.”
As evidenced by the relatively quick recording, Sinatra once again was in top form during the sessions for Nice ‘n’ Easy. “The first take was usually the best one,” Roberts says. “It was much less pretentious than sitting around for two hours trying to make it better when you really couldn’t. The first takes of some of the Sinatra things were fabulous.”
The public agreed. In its 10th week on the chart, Nice ‘n’ Easy became Sinatra’s third chart-topper, knocking another Capitol album, the Kingston Trio’s String Along, from the Number One spot.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of October 24, 1960
1. Nice ‘n’ Easy, Frank Sinatra
2. String Along, The Kingston Trio
3. Bongos, Los Admiradores
4. Persuasive Percussion, Vol. II, Enoch Light/Terry Snyder and the All Stars
5. Sold Out, The Kingston Trio