MMMmmmmmmmm, that’s some tasty brass writing.  Too bad they didn’t fully get Billy May to arrange Come Swing with Me!  According to Nat Cole expert Jordan Taylor (as posted by him at SH.TV, here), the BYU archives indicate that only two or three (depending on which file you believe) of the twelve Come Swing with Me tracks were actually arranged by May, with either three or four arranged by Skip Martin, and the balance arranged by Heinie Beau, who also ghostwrote roughly half of Sinatra’s Come Dance with Me album, also credited publicly to May.

As far as Sinatra’s contributions to this album bearing his name, the performance is pretty good considering that by this juncture Sinatra was solidly into “contractual obligation” mode where Capitol was concerned.  It’s not his best work, but it is still of a very high standard.  To put things into perspective, consider these important chronological details:

•By the time of these late-March, 1961, sessions, Sinatra had already released his first single on Reprise Records, The Second Time Around.

•Ring-a-Ding Ding was already “in the can,” and was only not yet on the shelf in record stores due to a “snarl” (Billboard’s wording) with the cover art.  It would be released about two weeks after the recording sessions for Come Swing with Me.

•Sinatra was burning the recording candle at both ends, presumably to get that pesky contractual obligation monkey off his back.  On March 22 and 23, he would record four songs per day at Capitol for Come Swing with Me, then buzz across town to Radio Recorders and record four more tracks each evening intended for, but not used on, Reprise’s I Remember Tommy album. (That album would be re-recorded later.)

Although Sinatra’s Capitol years were sunsetting, Capitol’s recording quality was arguably at its zenith, with results that remain stunningly good sixty years later.  (Yes, you are old.)  Let’s compare some of the mono releases.  NOTE: These brief sample clips mirror those already available free of charge at Amazon.com and iTunes.