Frenesi (Spanish for frenzy) is a Latin-flavored swing tune composed by Alberto Domínguez Borrás for the marimba in 1939. It was first recorded and released in 1939 by Lupita Palomera with the Orquesta Hnos Dominguez. The English-language version Frenesi, with lyrics by Leonard Whitcup, was copyrighted in 1940. The best-known recording is Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, with an arrangement by William Grant Still, issued as a 1940 single - it topped the Billboard pop chart for 13 weeks and the performance was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982. Since then the tune has been covered by hundreds of artists including Julie London, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Natalie Cole and Ray Charles, making Frenesi a jazz standard in swing and Latin-influenced jazz. The tune has also appeared in film and literature, notably in the Raging Bull soundtrack and in Thomas Pynchon's Vineland.
