Frank Sinatra Sings "Dream"

From 1942 through 1951, Axel Stordahl (1913 - 1963) was Frank Sinatra's music director and arranger. Together, they made much beautiful music. In fact, when a giant multi-CD set was released in 1995, it showed that the greatest artistic successes of Frank Sinatra at Columbia Records were those where he was teamed with Axel Stordahl. The down turn in Sinatra's career at Columbia and his dismissal from his label, motion picture studio work and radio and tv shows effectively ended this great collaboration in 1951. In 1953, Sinatra had to pay Capitol Records money upfront for his first record date in two years. He hired his old friend Stordahl to conduct. The two were not to work together until 1961 when Sinatra was working to release himself from Capitol Records due to creative differences. "Point of No Return" was recorded in two sessions in 1961. These were Stordahl's last and greatest sessions with Frank for the former was slowly dying of cancer. Yet, as ill as he was, Axel Stordahl showed effectively that he still had his chops and could make mincemeat out of any other arranger then living. One of these recordings was Johnny Mercer's song "Dream" which Sinatra and Stordahl had recorded previously but never so beautifully as here. The song appeared in the 1945 "Her Highness and the Bellboy" starring Hedy Lamarr and June Allyson. Here it is given a deluxe treatment by two of the greatest - Frank Sinatra and Axel Stordahl.