It’s hard to believe that Frank Sinatra had notched up half a century of birthdays (he was 50 the previous December) without making a live album – he had, after all, been a professional singer since 1935 and a solo recording artist since 1943. But that changed in 1966 when he joined forces with the legendary Count Basie and his band in Vegas.

The fact that Sinatra chose to record his first in-concert album in tandem with the Rolls Royce of big bands illustrates how much he appreciated performing with Basie’s slick and sophisticated, super-tight ensemble.

Sinatra At The Sands was recorded at a time when long-haired pop and rock groups – epitomized by The Beatles and The Beach Boys – were changing the face of music. 1966 was, after all, the age of game-changing albums such as Revolver and Pet Sounds, but in the Copa Room, in Sinatra’s presence, none of that seemed to matter. The audience was in Frank’s world, where the music swung, the songs were timeless, the jewelry dazzled, and the booze flowed. Time stood still.