Nice of you to also highlight his mental problems. I always had the feeling that those were inseperable from his often meditative, tranquil way of making music.
Already at a young age he drank heavily and was addicted to French cigarettes (’the heaviest he could find’, booklet liner notes comment). And near the end of his career, he literally lived out of the back of a van, selling his then very experimental (and often electric) albums himself. Somehow I can’t imagine him having improved in any way if having been admitted to a mental institution, or having been given all kinds of psychotropic medications.
He just was that way.
In stark contrast to all of this stands the transcendental, ephemeral sheer beauty of his Christmas albums (four in all). The first two are by far the best (from the ‘60s) - an absolute joy to play in a cosy family setting, after Mass for instance. The latter two sound a bit more clinical, they appeared in the early ‘80s. But still, these are more than worthwhile too.
As I said, he’s an American institution, much like Moondog Jr., Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Harry Partch, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, and many, many more.
(That said: I always had my problems with Frank Sinatra. I found him to be a narcissist, with extremely violent character traits, not to mention his alleged connections to the mob, that saved him from incarceration after a particularly nasty incident in which he and the other Rat Pack members beat a dentist to a pulp in a restaurant. Why? Because that dentist had politely asked if Sinatra’s troupe could speak a little bit more silently, so that he himself could understand what his wife was saying).
I don't know how nice it was; it was just part of the wonder of his abilities -- as you said, transcending everything. I agree, I did find many of his riffs more or less fugue-like (I'm also a great fan of Bach and baroque keyboards -- harpsichords and guitars are "family"). I think it was Thomas Cahill (How the Irish Saved Civilization) who said that the Irish are the only people on earth who are impervious to psychotherapy. Truly, his music soothed my soul; let's hope it was his balm as well. It's tragic how he ended up.
Many thanks to you for this reminder of a stunning and unique artist who meant a great deal to me in my 20s. I am lately revisiting some of the pieces of music and films that have really stood out during my lifetime (such as Black Orpheus), and it will certainly be worthwhile to invest in DVD versions of his work, as well as discovering the Christmas music.