Alberto Domínguez, music · Leonard Whitcup, first English lyric · Written in Mexico in 1939
Frenesi
Frenesí is a song by the Mexican composer Alberto Domínguez, written in 1939 for marimba. Artie Shaw's 1940 record topped the US pop chart and helped make it a jazz standard. You will hear it from Brubeck, Mulligan, Ray Charles and, on a mambo and bolero album, Linda Ronstadt.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Artie Shaw's 1940 hit and follows the song through two small-group records, a live set from Boston and Ray Charles's band in Atlanta. It ends with Brubeck in Mexico, a 1976 studio band with strings and Linda Ronstadt singing it in Spanish.
Mexican composer Alberto Domínguez wrote Frenesí in 1939, and Artie Shaw's band recorded it in Hollywood on March 3, 1940, in an arrangement by William Grant Still. The record reached number one on Billboard's pop chart in December 1940.
The 1940 hit
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Shaw's clarinet in a big band that also has a string section, a flute and an oboe, all credited on the label's listing.
Try it on your instrument
Play the of one from the chart: and in each of 1 to 4, then in bar 5. Smaller version: play only the roots B♭ and E♭ in that pattern, two to a bar.
Brubeck's quartet with Paul Desmond recorded Frenesi in San Francisco in November 1951. It came out on the Fantasy single 520, with “At A Perfume Counter” on the other side.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
An alto saxophone, a piano, a bass and drums, all in about two and a half minutes. It is the shortest record on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Play one from the chart at a medium pace, melody in the right hand and the and in the left. Smaller version: play the first four bars only.
Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker recorded Frenesi in Los Angeles in October 1952. Pacific Jazz issued it on the single 602, with “Nights at the Turntable” on the other side.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The trumpet and the baritone saxophone share the , with bass and drums behind them. At 3:11 it is a single's length.
Try it on your instrument
Play the from the chart: C maj7 for 1 to 5, with in bar 2, then in bar 6 and in bars 7 and 8. Smaller version: play a chord for five bars, then , then E♭ for two.
Mulligan's quartet played Frenesi live at the Storyville club in Boston in late 1956, and Pacific Jazz released the set in 1957. Bob Brookmeyer plays valve trombone beside Mulligan's baritone saxophone.
A long live version
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
The valve trombone and the baritone saxophone take the over bass and drums. At about four and a half minutes, it runs more than a minute longer than the 1952 studio version.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 32 as a loop, , and stop to notice where the leaves A♭ for C. Smaller version: play only the bridge, then go back to the first A.
Radio station WAOK recorded this set on May 28, 1959, at Herndon Stadium in Atlanta, and Atlantic released it as Ray Charles in Person in 1960. Frenesi is one of six tracks on the album.
A live band
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Charles on electric piano with two trumpets, two saxophone players, bass and drums, playing live for over five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the from the chart with a steady beat on every , two to a bar. If you improvise, try a few notes of the scale over the bars (5, 7 and 8). Smaller version: play only the chord tones A♭, C and E♭.
Brubeck's quartet recorded this live in Mexico in May 1967, with a bongo and conga player and a guitarist added to the group. The track first came out on a Legacy reissue of Bravo! Brubeck!, not on the original 1967 album.
Congas and bongos
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Congas and bongos under Desmond's alto saxophone and Brubeck's piano. At 5:17 it is the longest record on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Tap a steady beat with your foot and play the of the on beats 1 and 3 of each . Smaller version: tap the beat and play just the first chord of each bar.
Lalo Schifrin recorded Frenesi in New York in March 1976 for CTI, in the sessions for his Black Widow album. It did not make the original album and appeared as a bonus track on the CD reissue.
Strings and flutes
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Schifrin, who arranged and conducted, leads a studio band of brass, flutes, strings and a .
Try it on your instrument
Play the last three of the : in bar 6, then for bars 7 and 8, and hear how it pulls back to the final A. Smaller version: play just the roots B♭ and E♭, then land on A♭.
Linda Ronstadt named her 1992 Spanish-language album after this song. The album is a set of mambos and boleros arranged by Ray Santos, and it won the 1993 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.
Sung in Spanish
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Ronstadt sings in Spanish, the language of the first records in 1939, with the Ray Santos Orchestra behind her.
Try it on your instrument
Play a full from the chart, , at a medium pace and listen for where the leaves A♭ for C. Smaller version: play the first A twice.
The Mexican marimba player and composer Alberto Domínguez writes Frenesí in 1939. The singers Lupita Palomera and Ramón Armengod make the first records of it that year.
1940s
Artie Shaw's orchestra records it in Hollywood in March, with William Grant Still arranging it for a band that includes strings. The record reaches number one on Billboard's pop chart in December.
1950s
Brubeck's quartet with Paul Desmond records it in San Francisco in 1951, and Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker follows in Los Angeles in 1952. Ray Charles's band plays it live in Atlanta in 1959.
1960s
Dave Brubeck's quartet plays it live in Mexico in 1967, with a bongo and conga player added. Julie London sings it first on Latin in a Satin Mood, recorded in late 1962.
1970s
Lalo Schifrin records it in New York in March 1976 for CTI, leading a studio band of brass, flutes and strings from the piano.
1990s
Linda Ronstadt sings it in Spanish as the title song of Frenesí, a mambo and bolero album arranged by Ray Santos. The album wins the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.
More great versions
1 more, from 1962 to 1962. Tap a cover to play it here.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
A♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
A♭ → C → A♭key centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
A♭
C
A♭
Thirty-two in four sections of eight, , in , following iReal Pro's chart. Each plays and in each of bars 1 to 4, lands on in bar 5, plays B♭m7 and E♭7 again in bar 6 and rests on A♭maj7 in bars 7 and 8. B♭m7 to E♭7 to A♭maj7 is a –I in A♭. The opens on , touches in bar 2, returns to Cmaj7 through bar 5, then plays B♭m7 in bar 6 and E♭7 in bars 7 and 8, which sets up the final A.