The Chairman

Frank Sinatra wasn’t called “The Voice” for nothing. From the very beginning, there was no mistaking the quality of his sound--one of the most unique timbre in all of pop music history.

Other qualities came later, changing and evolving as he grew older: the long, swooping notes that drove the bobby-soxers wild in the ‘40s; the jazz-tinged swing of the ‘50s; the groovy, ring-a-ding-ding, macho-attitude outings in the ‘60s.

But the sound was always there, a rich baritone--almost up to tenor range in his early years, deeper and chestier in his maturity--sparked by a slight nasality that gave his tone an almost inimitable quality.

Sinatra arrived on the scene at the perfect time for a singer with his kind of voice. Microphones and public address systems, barely known in the 1920s, became common in the ‘30s, making it possible for him, when he came on the scene in 1939, to become one of the first to bring a new range of subtle dynamics to his interpretations.

Equally important, his early successes coincided with the start of World War II and the departure of millions of young men to the armed services. Young, skinny, innocent-looking, singing songs of sweet romance, he was an acceptable idol for war wives, as well as for a generation of young women in search of their own pop music icons.

Sinatra’s recording career unfolded in four fairly distinct stages: (1) his big-band singing with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, 1939-42; (2) the first years as a solo act, 1942-50, chronicled on Columbia; (3) the revival period of the ‘50s, with the great Capitol recordings; (4) the Reprise years, beginning in the ‘60s, when he was recording for his own record label.

Virtually all the major Sinatra material is covered in these large collections:

* “The Song Is You: The Complete Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra” (RCA/BMG). A five-CD box covering Sinatra’s earliest work with the Dorsey band. The Voice is young and sweet-sounding, with an utterly original quality. If the material is not always first-rate, it nonetheless offers a fascinating window into the growing pains of a pop music prodigy.

* “The Columbia Years (1943-1952)” (Columbia). A 12-CD boxed set encompassing 285 songs covering Sinatra’s early years as a crooner, and bridging into the more rhythmic material that emerged in the ‘50s. Early hits represented here include “All or Nothing at All,” “Oh! What It Seemed to Be,” “Five Minutes More,” “Mam’selle,” “You’ll Never Know” and “They Say It’s Wonderful.”

* “The Best of the Columbia Years (1943-1952)” (Columbia) is a more concise, less expensive version of the 12-CD set that should be adequate for anyone other than the most avid Sinatra collector.

* “Frank Sinatra Concepts” (Capitol) is a 16-CD boxed set encompassing many of the great performances from such early ‘50s classics as “In the Wee Small Hours” and “Songs for Swingin’ Lovers,” “A Swinging Affair!” and others. The albums helped to establish the potential for album-long concepts on LPs while simultaneously redefining popular music as an expression of mature adult emotions. “The Capitol Years” (Capitol), initially released to celebrate Sinatra’s 75th birthday, includes some of the same material, but the songs are sequenced differently, distorting the conceptual qualities of the original recordings. It’s useful as a sampler, but no replacement for the complete original albums.

* “The Complete Reprise Recordings” (Warner Bros.). It’s massive (20 CDs), and it’s expensive, but it covers everything from the Sinatra Reprise era of the ‘60s through the ‘80s. During the period, he managed to deal with rock, bossa nova, emerging new performers and his own sense of mortality. Surprisingly, in retrospect, given the dominance of rock music at the time, there is a striking array of hit songs: “Strangers in the Night,” “My Way,” “That’s Life,” “New York, New York,” “It Was a Very Good Year” and “Love and Marriage.”

He also performed the work of newer songwriters such as Neil Diamond, Billy Joel and Jim Webb. Among the albums that are included: the strikingly reflective “September of My Years”; the delightful, if not always completely successful collaborations “Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim” and “Francis A. Sinatra & Edward K. Ellington”; “Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back,” recorded after his short, 1973 retirement; and the massive concept album “Trilogy.”

Coincidentally, Capitol and Reprise have joined forces to launch the “Frank Sinatra: Entertainer of the Century” promotion. In an unprecedented cooperative effort between two record companies, they will issue 20-bit, digitally remastered versions of eight classic Sinatra albums (four from Capitol and four from Reprise) on May 26. The Capitol selections, which include bonus tracks, are “Come Dance With Me!,” “Frank Sinatra Sings For Only the Lonely,” “In the Wee Small Hours” and “Sinatra’s Swinging’ Session!!!” The Reprise albums, which feature some previously unreleased material, are “Sinatra at the Sands” (with the Count Basie Orchestra), “Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim,” “September of My Years” and “Ring-a-Ding Ding!” (his first album for Reprise).

Among more recent Sinatra albums, not always up to his past standards but filled with small, valuable moments:

* “L.A. Is My Lady” (Qwest). Produced by Quincy Jones in 1984, with a strikingly contemporary pop sound, filled with synthesizers and complicated production. Some of the grooves are a bit overdone, but Sinatra seems comfortable and unforced, despite the unusual settings.

* “Duets” and “Duets II” (Capitol). Incredibly successful combinations with performers such as Barbra Streisand, Bono, Kenny G, Tony Bennett, Julio Iglesias, Willie Nelson, Lena Horne and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Vilified by some critics for the fact that the duets were recorded separately, with Sinatra never in the studio with his associates, but fascinating, nonetheless. Approaching his 80th birthday, with a voice that sometimes faltered, he was still the master of rhythm and, above all, the master of pop singing as storytelling.