Frenesi Explained

"Frenesí" is a musical piece originally composed by Alberto Domínguez Borrás for the marimba, and adapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others.

Background

The word frenesí is Spanish for "frenzy".

Artie Shaw recording

A hit version recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra^[3] (with an arrangement by William Grant Still) reached number one on the Billboard pop chart on December 21, 1940, staying for 13 weeks,^[4] and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.^[5]

Cover versions

Other performers who have recorded the song include:

• Julie London
• Les Brown
• Dave Brubeck on his 1967 album, Bravo! Brubeck!
• Betty Carter
• Gerry Mulligan
  • June Christy Natalie Cole
• Ray Charles
• Bing Crosby
• Tommy Dorsey
• Victor Feldman
• The Four Freshmen
• Eydie Gorme
• Woody Herman
• Earl Hines
• Harry James
• Ben E. King
  • Steve Lawrence Billy May
• Glenn Miller
• Anita O'Day
• Perez Prado
• Cliff Richard
• Linda Ronstadt
• Jack Emblow
• Pat Suzuki
• Frank Sinatra
• Three X Sisters vocals with the Watson Orchestra
• Mel Tormé on his 1959, ^[6]
• Caterina Valente
• The Ritchie Family - 1975, on their Brazil album.^[7]
• Jesus Chino Miranda.
• Vedha (composer)

A song from the Modern Theatres Tamil movie Vallavan Oruvan

In popular culture

• World War II flying ace Major (later Brigadier General) Thomas L. Hayes named his P-51 Frenesi after the song.^[8] He said it was a tribute to his wife Louise, for the song they listened to; he believed the song's name translated as "Love Me Tenderly".
• The Artie Shaw recording was used in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Raging Bull.^[9]
• Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland features a character named Frenesi Gates, "her name celebrating the record by Artie Shaw that was all over the jukeboxes and airwaves in the last days of the war".

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards
• List of number-one singles of 1940 (U.S.)
• List of number-one singles of 1941 (U.S.)

Notes and References

1. Book: Library of Congress. Copyright Office. . Catalog of Copyright Entries 1940 Musical Compositions New Series Vol 35 Pt 3 For the Year 1940 . 1940 . U.S. Govt. Print. Off. . United States Copyright Office . English.
2. Web site: Victor matrix PBS-042546. Frenesi / Artie Shaw Orchestra - Discography of American Historical Recordings . 2022-05-25 . adp.library.ucsb.edu.
3. Web site: Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #5. 1972.
4. Book: Hoffmann. Frank. Chronology of American Popular Music, 1900-2000. May 23, 2016. Routledge. London; New York. 978-0-415-97715-9. 92. 11 December 2016.
5. Web site: GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. Grammy.org. The Recording Academy. 11 December 2016.
6. Web site: www.allmusic.com. www.allmusic.com. July 7, 2024.
7. Web site: www.allmusic.com. allmusic.com. November 20, 2022.
8. Robert F. Dorr, Air Combat: An Oral History of Fighter Pilots, 2007.
9. Web site: Internet Movie Database. imdb.com. May 12, 2017.