Expanding on the concept of
Songs for Young Lovers!
,
In the Wee Small Hours
was a collection of
ballads
arranged by
Nelson Riddle
. The first 12" album recorded by
Sinatra
Wee Small Hours
was more focused and concentrated than his two earlier concept records. It's a blue, melancholy album, built around a spare rhythm section featuring a rhythm guitar, celesta, and
Bill Miller
's piano, with gently aching strings added every once and a while. Within that melancholy mood is one of
's most
jazz
-oriented performances -- he restructures the melody and
Miller
's playing is bold throughout the record. Where
emphasized the romantic aspects of the songs,
sounds like a lonely, broken man on
. Beginning with the newly written title song, the singer goes through a series of
standards
that are lonely and desolate. In many ways, the album is a personal reflection of the heartbreak of his doomed love affair with actress
Ava Gardner
, and the
that he sings form their own story when collected together.
's voice had deepened and worn to the point where his delivery seems ravished and heartfelt, as if he were living the songs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine