In the summer of 1998, shortly after the death of one Francis Albert Sinatra, the late singer’s record companies unabashedly released a deluge of his old recordings, trying to cash in no doubt on this next wave of Sinatramania. I was one of those buyers as a newly initiated Sinatraphile, and the first “original” album I purchased (not a compilation) was Sinatra at the Sands, a prized CD I still own nearly 30 years later. I’m pretty sure the number of times I’ve listened to that disc is into the thousands, and of course I know every word, every note, and just about any time someone in the audience so much as coughs.

Memorizing every note and nuance is important to part two of the story, in which six decades after they were recorded some previously unreleased material from those ’66 Sands shows with Basie hit the open market of Spotify last week.

My first thought was, why the hell have these been sitting in someone’s basement for the last 60 years?

Second thought: I know what I’m doing for the next five hours.

It’s one of those projects that only devotees can enjoy, finding the slightest differences in words and music–Sinatra famously altering phrasings from show to show that would baffle today’s pop singers (and pop audiences). The mixes are a little different too (or maybe my own equipment is better now), and this provides a little puzzle as well, noting said differences. I had to listen to the piano (I assume it’s Bill Miller, not Basie) on “It Was a Very Good Year” about six times in a row because it’s just that good, so present and so sparse yet dense at the same time (listen and that paradox will make sense).

As with nearly everything Sinatra touched in this era, this is a masterpiece. Add in 21st-century technology and it’s absolutely without modern comparison. Kudos to the team that has put this together, and please, keep digging for more.

Please tell me the vaults are not empty yet.