# What genre of music is Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708 "2003-05-27T04:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/1 "2003-05-27T04:23:49Z")
…and other such singers? (Sammy Davis Jr., Mel Tormé, Nat King Cole, Harry Connick Jr.). I always thought they would be considered Jazz singers, yet I don’t think they fit the purists’ definition of Jazz (they generally don’t improvise, scat sing, and so on), maybe “pop” - but that can include just about anything…or “standards” - but that is more a reference to certain songs. (I do know Nat King Cole was a respected Jazz pianist, but is mainly known now for his ‘pop’ vocals) My mom suggested “lounge music”, but I associate that name more with bad teal blue suits and clattering hotel bars. I suppose that would fall under that category though. Does anyone have a better name than “Jazzy Pop Standard Singing”? ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/2 "2003-05-27T04:31:27Z")
Lounge. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/3 "2003-05-27T04:32:54Z")
Yeah, I think Lounge is the accepted name of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/4 "2003-05-27T05:02:29Z")
Except for some scat, which is jazz, (Torme) those mentioned, particularly Sinatra & Bennett ,are the epitome of pop. Having produced a few songs & been a college DJ, I have a good handle on music, & if these two NYC area paisons aren’t pop, then Elvis was a rapper. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/5 "2003-05-27T07:29:19Z")
Crooners. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/6 "2003-05-27T12:22:06Z")
American popular music. “Pop” is OK, too. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/7 "2003-05-27T12:52:40Z")
Some of Sinatra’s works fit nicely into Big Band and Swing, too. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/8 "2003-05-27T13:03:46Z")
Most of my local record stores keep them under “Easy Listening” and the library I work at keeps them under “Pop” so take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/9 "2003-05-27T13:43:33Z")
The name I have seen given to this style in places like [live365.com](http://live365.com) is “Standards” ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/10 "2003-05-27T14:13:52Z")
nostalgia ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/11 "2003-05-27T14:39:20Z")
Sinatra was a “crooner” in his first incarnation. “Crooning” was originally made popular by Bing Crosby and was a musical style wherein the lyrics were sung in a more conversational phrasing. It went out of style and Sinatra changed his style as well. Tony Bennett has always created Louis Armstrong as being his major vocal influence, and he’s never been seen as a “crooner.” They were “pop” singers, in that the songs in their repertoire were generally popular standards, even though Bennett had taken to singing a wider range of songs. His recent work with KD Lang is pretty good stuff. A few years ago he played at Harbor Center in Portsmouth and I had the good fortune to see him. Great voice and stage prescence. He’s still got it. I also spoke to the City Manger after the show and he told me that the day of the perfromance, Bennett had come down to the hotel dining room for lunch and learned that a woman sitting at a nearby table was celebrating a birthday. When her dessert was delivered he went over and sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She, and her lady guests, melted (as you might expect). What a generous thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/12 "2003-05-27T15:19:58Z")
Wow. It’s interesting to see how out of the mainstream this stuff has become, if no one knows what it’s called. It’s Jazz vocals, pure and simple. NEVER call it lounge–never never never. Lounge singing is what Bill Murray parodied on the old SNL–and ONLY that. Lounge singing is BY DEFINITION bottom of the barrel, jazz WANNABEs, stuck in suburban Hotel LOUNGES singing “jazzy” versions of “Feelings.” Sinatra and Bennett–and Fitzgerald and Carter and Armstrong and Dearie–and today’s youngsters, e.g. Diana Krall and Holly Cole and Patricia Barber–are all Jazz singers, and they would roll over in their graves (or put you in yours) if they ever heard you call them anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/13 "2003-05-27T16:00:50Z")
I’ts cool, baby. That’s all you need to know. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/14 "2003-05-27T16:43:34Z")
Everywhere I’ve purchased Frank Sinatra CD’s they have been under the “Easy Listening” section. I think “Standards” is a better way of saying it though. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/15 "2003-05-27T17:25:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Breezy \* > \*\*Everywhere I’ve purchased Frank Sinatra CD’s they have been under the “Easy Listening” section. > > I think “Standards” is a better way of saying it though. \*\* You’re answering the wrong question, Breezy. The question to which your answer is the correct one is: “How do most record store misfile Sinatra and Bennett?” The correct answer to the OP is, as I said, _jazz_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/16 "2003-05-27T18:29:22Z")
Well, I dunno…Torme is definitely jazz. Sinatra is a toss-up. The early recordings with Tommy Dorsey’s band were obviously jazz. The famous 1950’s Columbia recordings, though…I dunno. I hesitate to call Nelson Riddle’s or Billy May’s arrangements _jazz_. Then again, on the live early '60s recordings from Australia and Paris he’s backed by Red Norvo and a hot jazz combo. And there are those famous albums with Count Basie, and with Duke Ellington… I solved this problem around my house by creating a separate filing system for **vocals** , right after jazz. So Torme and Sinatra live there, along with stone jazzers Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams, plus folks like Rudy Vallee, Dinah Washington, Ute Lemper, Slim Gaillard, Jerry Butler, Abbey Lincoln, Edith Piaf, the Mills Brothers, Paul Robeson, the Ink Spots, Alberta Hunter, Ernie Kovacs, Helen Merrill, the Comedian Harmonists, and John McCormack. Sure it’s a weird group, but wouldn’t you like to have 'em all over to your house for a party? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/17 "2003-05-27T18:55:06Z")
This is the silliest kind of hairsplitting. Frank Sinatra was the second or third best jazz singer of all time. Can ever squeak he ever uttered by classified as pure jazz? Maybe not. That’s hardly a reason to quibble over whether Frank Sinatra was a jazz singer. There’s simply no room for quibbling: the question has a definitive answer. Just because, for example, Kenny G is a _bad_ jazz saxophonist doesn’t mean he’s not a _jazz_ saxophonists; just because you can insert qualifiers in a description of some of Sinatra’s less “pure” stuff doesn’t change the fact of who and what he was. ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/18 "2003-05-28T07:20:50Z")
Frank did do one incest number. A love tune w/ daughter Nancy , “Somethin’ Stupid,” in 1967. The incest angle must have turned him off, tho’ . It’s the only single that made it to #one, w/o a follow up. (Assuming nobody died). Father & daughter never did another record. ---
**Author:** ![nebco9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@nebco9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebco9)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/19 "2003-05-28T11:33:31Z")
I usually go to ALL MUSIC GUIDE for my musical questions like this. According to them the **GENRE** is VOCAL but the **STYLE** is listed as VOCAL JAZZ and TRADITIONAL POP. You can check all of them out at: ALLMUSIC.COM ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708/20 "2003-05-28T12:01:48Z")
Why not just make it easy - when you refer to these guys as _Crooners_ everyone knows what you’re talking about. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-genre-of-music-is-frank-sinatra-and-tony-bennett/177708.md?page=2)