A Jazz Portrait of Frank Sinatra may not be top-shelf OP, but it is a most attractive and illuminating set. Recorded in Paris in May 1959, it marked drummer Ed Thigpen"s Peterson debut--though such is the group"s three-in-one empathy that you"d never think so. Three months later they recorded over 100 titles in the space of a fortnight, the majority a reprise of Peterson"s 10-album Songbook series from 1952-1954, and the ethos of this precursor is very similar, with its accent on beautifully crafted tributes to the American popular song at its finest. The performances are short, but anything but perfunctory: Peterson"s arrangements are as distinguished for imagination as for appositeness, and those arrangements--even more than his glorious pianism--are the key to this portrait"s enduring success. Bassist Ray Brown is just awesome, and not even the decidedly modest playing time should stop you from adding this to your collection without delay. --Richard Palmer