cover image Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins

Goodbye: In Search of Gordon Jenkins

Bruce Jenkins. Frog, $25.95 (341pp) ISBN 978-1-58394-126-3

""Frank Sinatra once told me that he and my father were the two saddest men,"" writes Jenkins in his biography of his father, Gordon ""Gor"" Jenkins. As a top-notch composer, arranger, conductor and performer, ""Gor"" worked with many of the great singers of the 1940s through the 1960s, and is probably best known for the suites Seven Dreams and Manhattan Tower, as well as Frank Sinatra's hit, ""It Was a Very Good Year,"" which earned Gor a Grammy in 1965. The book reads like a Who's Who of the period, with vignettes spotlighting Gor's work with Nat Cole, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee and many others. Perhaps most surprising is the author's account of his father's obsession with The Weavers, and Jenkins's interview with Pete Seeger provides first-hand information on the folk group's 1950 recording sessions, Decca Records's confusion about how to market the group and the controversy over the lyrics for ""Tzena, Tzena, Tzena."" A highlight of the volume is Jenkins's interview with Sinatra. Jenkins, a San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist, writes in a relaxed, breezy style, and much of the book is quoted material from his interviews with the artists, providing a trove of fresh material for swing, jazz and folk fans.