“What the hell was that?” By Mahnuel Muñoz Bob Weitman, the director of the Paramount Theatre, saw Sinatra perform at the Mosque Theater in Newark in 1942 and was fascinated. He ipso facto proposed to Benny Goodman that the young…
CY COLEMAN By Mahnuel Muñoz He was a child prodigy who played piano at such prestigious venues as Steinway Hall, Town Hall and Carnegie Hall before he was ten years old. Cy Coleman was born in New York on June…
A golden saturday to illuminate a black monday By Mahnuel Muñoz October 19, 1987 was called “Black Monday“, as it was the scene of a brutal collapse of stock markets around the planet, leading to a crisis from which it…
When “Two” became “The One” By Mahnuel Muñoz “I knew number one was Bing Crosby, but someone had to be number two.” Frank Sinatra On January 19, 1942, Frank Sinatra immortalized his first recording as a soloist, apart from Tommy…
A REFLECTION ON THE FAN PHENOMENON THAT (MAYBE) YOU ARE NOT GOING TO LIKE By Mahnuel Muñoz In January 1944, Arthur Rodzinski, the director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, said: “Boogie woogie that young people like is the greatest…
FRANK SINATRA AND WILLIE NELSON By Mahnuel Muñoz In the early 1980s, Frank Sinatra and Willie Nelson formed an unlikely friendship. The two did a series of NASA space research public service announcements, and Nelson in 2018 recorded a collection…
SINATRA’S GREAT IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT By Manuel Muñoz (1983) For Quincy Jones any dream is possible. He has just produced the album “Thriller” for Michael Jackson and now wants to unite Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne, two of the brightest stars…
THE LAST YEARS OF FRANK SINATRAby Mahnuel Munoz CHAPTER 7 Frank had recorded duets with other singers throughout his career, from his days with Tommy Dorsey’s band through the 1980s. The idea of creating an entire album of Sinatra paired…
MITCH MILLER Mitch Miller was born in Rochester, New York, on July 4, 1911. He took piano lessons but soon switched to the oboe. After graduating in music, he began his career working for the CBS Symphony Orchestra. After recording…
“The meaning of existence, oh, my love…” By Mahnuel Muñoz In 1999 I took my first steps as a Sinatra fan. After acquiring some bargain CDs with Columbia recordings and the usual “Greatest Hits”, I needed to explore deeper, and…
When Randy met Frankie By Mahnuel Muñoz Speaking to “Uncut” magazine in 2019, singer-songwriter Randy Newman (1943) recalled that he once had the opportunity to work with Frank Sinatra. Supposedly, the timeless, laid-back qualities of Newman’s music could endear him…
“REPRISE RARITIES” By Mahnuel Muñoz On December 11, 2020, in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic and on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Reprise label, Frank Sinatra Enterprises and Universal Music began a…
