POP MUSIC REVIEW : Sinatra’s September Songs Still Well Worth Hearing

“I hope you live to be 765 years old,” said Frank Sinatra, toasting his audience at the Long Beach Arena on Sunday, “and that the last voice you hear is mine.”

All things considered, if Ol’ Blue Eyes’ voice can sound as fine for the next 700-plus years as it has for the previous 50 or 60, that would be a pretty good bargain.

After an opening segment by comedian Don Rickles, Sinatra casually sauntered on stage, looking relaxed and fit. Wasting no time with small talk, he kicked off an 80-minute collection of tunes with a hard-driving romp through “I’ve Got the World on a String,” closely followed by “A Foggy Day” and “All Or Nothing At All.”

Sinatra sounded strong and focused, especially on the rhythm numbers, taking chances on high notes and adding an occasional trademark swooping glissando up to a climax. It was impressive singing--not just for a 77-year-old man who has not always been as kind as he might have been to his voice, but for any singer, at any age. In fact, the lyric phrasing and rhythmic accenting he brought to songs such as “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Come Rain or Come Shine” should be required listening for anyone seriously contemplating a vocal career--in pop, jazz or classical music.

Was he the Sinatra of 30 or 40 years ago? Of course not. No more than the Miles Davis of 1985 was the Miles Davis of 1955. But, like Davis, Sinatra has never lost his mastery of the essential element of performing--the capacity to reach in and reveal the heart of the music.

As always, he was provided magnificent support by an orchestra conducted by Frank Sinatra Jr.

At one point, during an irrepressibly swinging reading of “Mack the Knife,” Sinatra sang a line suggesting that, after versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong, “Ol’ Blue Eyes can’t add much to this song.”

He was wrong. As he has done throughout his remarkable, pop-music-defining career, Sinatra continues to add grace, beauty, passion and imagination to every note he sings.