Well, there's that too...

When it comes to appreciating the finer points of our American musical heritage, there will always be something or someone that one just doesn't "get." Take Frank Sinatra. He's been held in high regard for a long, long time. But us young folks who weren't around to experience his magic first hand might associate him more with camp, kitch and all that Vegas/Rat Pack/Cannonball Run II stuff.. as opposed to what really made him great.

Via Grow a Brain, I found this discussion going back an forth about just what made 'Ol Blue Eyes the legend he was. One contributor put it like this...

...I value him for his phrasing. It's hard to explain until you listen to a bunch of Sinatra, but he has a way of constructing musical lines that sounds so easy and carefree. They say that the early beboppers listened to Sinatra and tried to copy elements of his phrasing. If you listen to early Sonny, Bird, or Dizzy, you can hear some of this.

And on another note:

And from a pop culture sense, well, he is "so great" for the same reason that any pop culture icon is "so great". He had sex with some hot women, he did drugs with some important people, and he had a famously large package, apparently.

Any questions?