![]() ![]() Listen to this with a crisp white open neck shirt, a tilted black Stetson Zephyr fedora and a decent cigar. His last release on Capitol before joining Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records label is Cha Cha de Amor, notable for the Afro-Cuban rhythms and percussive skills of Carlos Mejia, Tony Reyes, Eddie Cano and Ramon Rivera. Including “You’re Nobody till Somebody Loves You” and a cracking take on the Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen vehicle “Imagination” this remains a suave period piece that is ripe for discovery and always looks impressive when strategically placed at the front of a discerning collection.ĭino: Italian Love Songs was a heartfelt throwback to his roots with the whiff of Roman streets and nods to operatic countertenors declaiming “There’s No Tomorrow (O Sole Mio)” referencing and updating a tradition with aplomb. This Time I’m Swingin’!, orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle is his first great album and greets the new decade under the banner ‘Full Dimensional Stereo’, for those who like their cultural signposts. He made a bigger splash with the 1959 album Sleep Warm with arrangements by Pete King and orchestra conducted by Sinatra!This “beguiling set of lullabies for moderns” features “Dream a Little Dream, of Me”, a hit for Mama Cass and company in the next decade. Dean’s easy listening with attitude came to the fore on Swingin’ Down Yonder (1955), a set of chestnuts warmed by a Southern sun. Martin’s earliest work was for the small Diamond Records label in 1946 when he was already heading for his 30th birthday but Capitol Records, for whom he recorded 1948 – 1961, soon snapped him up. He met Sinatra in New York in the late 1940s and then built a nightclub act in Atlantic City with comedian Jerry Lewis, perfecting his timing and introducing audiences to a hyper version of 1950s street style. ![]() Once he embarked on a singing career he styled himself after arch crooner Bing Crosby, using the less is more technique, majoring on the force of personality and charisma to drive a song home. He worked in steel mills, had a spell as a boxer, flipped the aces in speakeasy establishments and learnt the art of blackjack and poker. ![]() To me, he was perfect.”īorn Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio to an Italian-American family the young man had a real blue-collar upbringing. “He was the coolest dude I’d ever seen, period,” recalled Stevie Van Zandt, adding, “He wasn’t just great at everything he did. For example, Playboy called him “the coolest man who ever lived.” Elvis Presley worshipped him. Also famous for his movies, his love of golf and the bon mot – “If you drink, don’t drive – don’t even putt” and his Dry Martini recipe – “plenty of ice, plenty of gin and just point yer glass towards Italy” – Dino has had plenty of Hollywood acolytes. ![]() Despite his legendary laid back vocal style, Martin took his recording career very seriously and as with his Rat Pack pal, Frank Sinatra, lengthy stints with Capitol and Reprise are evidence of a ferocious schedule as well as a life well-lived.įor aficionados of masculine charm, Dean represents an era when a sharp dressed man with an eye for the fairer sex was the very thing: his timeless hits include classics like “Sway”, “Volare ” (Nel Blue Di Pinto Di Blu), “That’s Amore”, “Memories Are Made of This”, “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You” and “King Of The Road” but his facility with a European, often Italian ballad, a finger-snapping delivery and a warm bravado shouldn’t camouflage his ability to pick and choose the right material, the best producers and players in town, and the entire entertainment package fingers him as an American icon. One of the undisputed kings of cool, Dean Martin is sometimes portrayed as a musical dilettante whereas nothing could be further from the truth. ![]()
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