Frenesi

"Frenesí" is a musical piece originally composed by Alberto Domínguez Borrás for the marimba, and adapted as a jazz standard by Leonard Whitcup and others.

Background
The word frenesí is Spanish for "frenzy".

Artie Shaw recording


A hit version recorded by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (with an arrangement by William Grant Still) reached number one on the Billboard pop chart on December 21, 1940, staying for 13 weeks, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.

Cover versions
Other performers who have recorded the song include:
 * Julie London
 * Les Brown
 * Dave Brubeck on his 1967 album, Bravo! Brubeck!
 * Betty Carter
 * Gerry Mulligan
 * June Christy
 * Natalie Cole
 * Ray Charles
 * Bing Crosby
 * Tommy Dorsey
 * Victor Feldman
 * The Four Freshmen
 * Eydie Gorme
 * Woody Herman
 * Earl Hines
 * Harry James
 * Ben E. King
 * Steve Lawrence
 * Billy May
 * Glenn Miller
 * Anita O'Day
 * Perez Prado
 * Cliff Richard
 * Linda Ronstadt
 * Jack Emblow
 * Pat Suzuki
 * Frank Sinatra
 * Three X Sisters vocals with the Watson Orchestra
 * Mel Tormé on his 1959, ¡Olé Tormé!: Mel Tormé Goes South of the Border with Billy May
 * Caterina Valente
 * The Ritchie Family - 1975, on their Brazil album.
 * Jesus Chino Miranda.
 * Vedha (composer): A song from the Modern Theatres Tamil movie Vallavan Oruvan

In popular culture

 * World War II flying ace Major (later Brigadier General) Thomas L. Hayes named his P-51 Frenesi after the song. He said it was a tribute to his wife Louise, for the song they listened to; he believed the song's name translated as "Love Me Tenderly".
 * The Artie Shaw recording was used in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Raging Bull.
 * Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland features a character named Frenesi Gates, "her name celebrating the record by Artie Shaw that was all over the jukeboxes and airwaves in the last days of the war".