
Shadows in the Night (Columbia Records)
Bob Dylan
Released January 2015
The Telegraph Best Jazz Albums of 2015
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About:
Shadows in the Night is the thirty-sixth studio album by Bob Dylan. The album consists of covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra, chosen by Dylan. Like most of his 21st century output, Dylan produced the album himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.
Speaking of his intention behind the album, Dylan stated: “I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way. They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.”
Shadows in the Night consists of ten ballads that were recorded by Frank Sinatra in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The songs were selected from that period of Sinatra’s career when he was recording thematic albums that explored emotions of separation and heartache—albums such as Where Are You? (1957), which includes four of the songs on Shadows, No One Cares (1959), and All Alone (1962). Most of the songs are Tin Pan Alley standards, delivered in a slow to mid-tempo pace, that “often luxuriate in melancholy” and communicate a sense of loneliness. The arrangements center on Dylan’s vocals supported throughout by Donny Herron’s gliding pedal-steel guitar and Tony Garnier’s bass.
Shadows in the Night was recorded in 2014 at Capitol Studios in studio B, where Frank Sinatra often recorded his albums. According to the album’s recording engineer, Al Schmitt, the songs on Shadows were recorded live with Dylan singing and his five-man touring band performing the songs in the same room at the same time without headphones. Dylan did not want to see any microphones other than the one he was using for his vocals, so Schmitt had to set up the rest of the microphones away from the instruments. The acoustic bass microphone was eight feet from the bass, and set down and away so it could not be seen; the same approach was taken for the acoustic guitar. For the electric guitar and pedal steel, Schmitt placed the microphones close to the amplifiers, which were set off to the side.
According to Schmitt, recording sessions typically were held from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and then after a two-hour break, an evening session was held from 8:00 pm to around 10:30 pm. They worked Monday through Friday with weekends off. Dylan prepared each session by listening to the Sinatra recordings, according to Schmitt, who noted:
He would listen to the songs over and over and get Sinatra’s intention on what he was doing with the song. Then he would only do two or three takes on each tune, but he would make it his own. It had nothing to do with Sinatra. He’d just learn what the song was about and whatever. It was an interesting way to work.
A total of 23 songs were recorded, from which ten were chosen for the album
Track Listing:
1. I’m a Fool to Want You (Joel Herron / Frank Sinatra / Jack Wolf) 04:51
2. The Night We Called It a Day (Tom Adair / Matt Dennis) 03:24
3. Stay With me (Carolyn Leigh / Jerome Moross / Moross) 02:56
4. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma / Johnny Mercer / Jacques Prévert) 03:01
5. Why Try to Change Me Now (Cy Coleman / Joseph McCarthy) 03:37
6. Some Enchanted Evening (Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers) 03:28
7. Full Moon and Empty Arms (Buddy Kaye / Ted Mossman) 03:26
8. Where Are You? (Harold Adamson / Jimmy McHugh) 03:37
9. What’ll I Do (Irving Berlin) 03:20
10. That Lucky Old Sun (Haven Gillespie / Beasley Smith) 03:36
Personnel:
Bob Dylan: vocals
Daniel Fornero: trumpet
Tony Garnier: upright bass
Larry G. Hall: trumpet
Dylan Hart: French horn
Donnie Herron: pedal steel guitar
Alan Kaplan: trombone
Stu Kimball: guitar
Andrew Martin: trombone
Joseph Meyer: French horn
George Receli: percussion
Charlie Sexton: guitar
Francisco Torres: trombone
D.J. Harper: horn arrangements, conductor
Production: Bob Dylan
Recording and Mixing: Al Schmitt
Assistant Engineering: Steve Genewick
Mastering: Doug Sax
Photography: John Shearer
Album Design: Geoff Gans
Review:
Bob Dylan pays tribute to the jazz songs of Frank Sinatra, as he takes beautiful material written by such greats as Rodgers and Hammerstein and completely inhabits them, reimagining Some Enchanted Evening with the wistful intimacy of someone peering back through the mists of time.
Neil McCormick (The Telegraph)