Singer-songwriter Seal has said it has been a “lifelong dream” to create his new album, a collection of covers of jazz and swing classics.
The soul and R&B star will release his 10th studio album Standards on November 10 in a homage to artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Nina Simone.
Seal said: “This is the album I have always wanted to make.
“I grew up listening to music from the Rat Pack era, so recording these timeless tunes was a lifelong dream.”
Kiss From a Rose hitmaker Seal worked with musicians who have performed with some of the original artists on the album, including pianist Randy Waldman, who toured with Sinatra, and bass player Chuck Berghofer, who performed with Fitzgerald and Ray Charles.
The album was recorded in the Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles, where Sinatra along with musicians Dean Martin and Nat King Cole had worked, and the United Studios, established by Sinatra and Bing Crosby.
Seal said: “It was a true honour to collaborate with the same musicians who performed with Frank Sinatra and so many of my favourite artists, in the very same studios where the magic was first made – it was one of the greatest days of my recording career.”
The album includes Seal’s covers of Sinatra classics Luck Be A Lady, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and It Was A Very Good Year.
He has also worked on renditions of Fitzgerald’s I’m Beginning to See The Light and Simone’s I Put A Spell On You, among others.
Seal has sold more than 30 million records across three decades and has won a handful of Grammy Awards, Brits and Ivor Novellos.
