Sammy Davis, Jr.

The first LP that Sammy Davis, Jr., cut for Sinatra's Reprise Records, this is a vital collaboration with West Coast jazz arranger Marty Paich. Here, Davis combines his big showbiz voice with an adept -- and often overlooked -- feel for real jazz. This one may be the single best thing Davis ever recorded, and it includes his definitive reading of "Bye Bye Blackbird." In the late 1990s, Reprise released a compilation of Davis' jazz sides with Marty Paich (which includes some of the tracks found here) under the same title.