Nice 'n' Easy

This article is about the album by Frank Sinatra. For the album by Houston Person, see Nice 'n' Easy (Houston Person album). For other uses, see Nice and Easy (disambiguation).
Nice 'n' Easy
Studio album by
Frank Sinatra
ReleasedJuly 25, 1960 (1960-07-25)
RecordedMarch 1 – 3, April 13, 1960
StudioCapitol Studio A (Hollywood)
Genre
Length39:33
LabelCapitol
ProducerDave Cavanaugh
Frank Sinatra chronology
No One Cares
(1959) 		Nice 'n' Easy
(1960) 		All the Way
(1961)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Billboardpositive ("Spotlight" pick)[1]
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Uncut[4]

Nice 'n' Easy is the eighteenth studio album by Frank Sinatra, released on July 25, 1960.[5]

All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. The title song was a last-minute substitute for the originally planned "The Nearness of You," which did not appear on the original LP.

The album spent nine weeks at number one on the Billboard stereo album chart, and one week at number one on the corresponding mono album chart.[6] At the 1960 Grammy Awards, Nice 'n' Easy was nominated for the Grammy Award as Album of the Year, Best Male Vocal Performance, Best Arrangement. The song "Nice 'n' Easy" was released as a single in 1960 and made it to number 60 on the charts. It was also recorded by Charlie Rich in 1964, Peggy Lee in 1966, Alex Chilton in 1989, Michael Buble in 2004, Natalie Cole in 2008, and Barbra Streisand in 2011.

Nancy Sinatra recorded a cover version as a single (Reprise Records RS.20756 "Happy" b/w " Nice 'n' Easy"); it is also included in the CD version of her album "Nancy" as a bonus track.

In 2000 it was voted number 545 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[7]

Track listing

  1. "Nice 'n' Easy" (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Keith, Lew Spence) – 2:45
  2. "That Old Feeling" (Lew Brown, Sammy Fain) – 3:33
  3. "How Deep Is the Ocean? (How High Is the Sky?)" (Irving Berlin) – 3:15
  4. "I've Got a Crush on You" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 2:16
  5. "You Go to My Head" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 4:28
  6. "Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)" (Rube Bloom, Johnny Mercer) – 3:22
  7. "Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You)" (Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby) – 3:18
  8. "(I Got A Woman Crazy For Me) She's Funny That Way" (Neil Moret, Richard A. Whiting) – 3:55
  9. "Try a Little Tenderness" (Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Harry M. Woods) – 3:22
  10. "Embraceable You" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 3:24
  11. "Mam'selle" (Mack Gordon, Edmund Goulding) – 2:48
  12. "Dream" (Mercer) – 2:57
    Bonus tracks included on the 1991 CD reissue:
  13. "The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington) – 2:43
  14. "Someone to Watch Over Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – 2:57
  15. "Day In, Day Out" (Bloom, Mercer) – 3:07
  16. "My One and Only Love" (Robert Mellin, Guy Wood) – 3:12

The album was remixed and remastered in 2020. The bonus tracks for the CD are "The Nearness of You" and excerpts of the sessions for "I've Got a Crush on You" and "Nice 'n' Easy". "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Day In, Day Out", and "My One and Only Love", which came from totally unrelated sessions, were removed from this reissue.

Selected personnel

Track 1:

13-April-1960 (Wednesday) - Hollywood.

The session report and the Union contract do not give any names of musicians.

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 9:

1-March-1960 (Tuesday) - Hollywood.

Ken Shroyer, Tom Shepard (tbn); William Hinshaw, James McGee (fr-h); Harry Klee, Abe Most, Plas Johnson, Harry Schuchman, Joe Koch (sax/wwd); Victor Amo, Dan Lube, Jacques Gasselin, Marshall Sosson, Gerald Vinci, Felix Slatkin, Alex Beller, Victor Bay, Emo Neufeld (vln); Alvin Dinkin, Barbara Simons, Virginia Majewski (via); Eleanor Slatkin, Ray Kramer (vie); Kathryn Julye (harp); Bill Miller (p); Al Viola (g); Joe Comfort (b); Norman Jeffries (d).

Tracks 3, 4, 10, 11, 12:

3-March-1960 (Thursday) - Hollywood.

Cappy Lewis (tpt); Tom Shepard, Ken Shroyer (tbn); George Roberts (b-tbn); William Hinshaw, James McGee (fr-h); Harry Klee, Abe Most, Plas Johnson, Harry Schuchman, Joe Koch (sax/wwd); Victor Amo, Dan Lube, Jacques Gasselin, Marshall Sosson, Nathan Ross, Felix Slatkin, Alex Beller, Victor Bay, Emo Neufeld (vln); Alex Neiman, Barbara Simons, Louis Kievman (via); Eleanor Slatkin, James Arkatow, Victor Gottlieb (vie); Kathryn Julye (harp); Bill Miller (p); Al Viola (g); Joe Comfort (b); Norman Jeffries (d).

Tracks 7, 8, 13:

2-March-1960 (Wednesday) - Hollywood.

Cappy Lewis (tpt); Ken Shroyer, Tom Shepard (tbn); William Hinshaw, James McGee (fr-h); Willie Schwartz, Abe Most, Plas Johnson, Harry Schuchman, Joe Koch (sax/wwd); Victor Arno, Gerald Vinci, Alex Beller, Victor Bay, Nathan Ross, Marvin Limonick, Harold Dicterow, James Getzoff, Joseph Livoti (vln); Alvin Dinkin, Barbara Simons, Louis Kievman (via); Virgil Gates, Ray Kramer (vlc); Kathryn Julye (harp); Bill Miller (p); Al Hendrickson (g); Joe Comfort (b); Nonnan Jeffries (d).[8]

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[9] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Billboard (in German). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 35. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. ^ Aiken, Kit (November 2003). "Croon squad". Uncut. No. 20. p. 92.
  5. ^ Nice 'n' Easy at AllMusic
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Albums 1955-2001 (Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, 2001), 1177.
  7. ^ Colin Larkin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 187. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  8. ^ Put Your Dreams Away: A Frank Sinatra Discography. ISBN 978-0274963768.
  9. ^ "American album certifications – Frank Sinatra – Nice 'N' Easy". Recording Industry Association of America.