Anton
A very interesting item. Thank you.
And fascinating that Bing apparently advised Sinatra not to rely too heavily on one arranger. It is not clear when this might have been - presumably such advice is most likely to have been fairly early on in the career of Frank.  (I can't imagine that even Bing would have been proffering such advice to Frank after Frank had made his big break through).

Might there be an implication possibly that Bing regretted too heavy a reliance on JST? 

 

While John Scott Trotter did some fantastic arrangements for BING example "Mexicali Rose" was one of JST'S best arrangements for Crosby, His Arrangements of two Cole Porter Songs for Crosby "Night And Day" and "I've Got You Under My Skin" pale in comparison wit Nelson Riddle's for Frank Sinatra which is probably two of the reasons why Sinatra's records are still being constantly reissued more than Bing's also some of Trotters other arrangements for Bing haven't aged as Riddle's for Sinatra.

Sinatra's NIGHT AND DAY with Axel Stordahl in 1942 IS his best version of the song. It also defined the song better than Fred Astaire or the later version by Bing. Perhaps the 1938 Maxine Sullivan version can challenge Sinatra's 1942 version? Bing's 1944 version with Trotter is terrible, although it was a commercial success. / I agree that Sinatra's 1956 IVE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN, with Riddle betters Bing's 1947 version with Trotter. So were previous versions by Lee Wiley and Josephine Baker in the 1930s./ Trotter's sedate work with Bing was something that Bing himself wanted. Considering the huge catalog of songs with Trotter that rate from excellent to poor, I would rate Trotter's very best song with Bing IS the fab 1939 recording of WHAT'S NEW. After that, Bing's musical sound changed, sometimes good, and mostly mediocre. Or maybe because Sinatra was more interested in producing a better recording? Trotter's lively backing of Bing & Connie Boswell on 5 titles proves his worth, noting that Bing was more inspired vocally when recording with Connie, / I would also note the old 10-inch LP BING SINGS COLE PORTER, which attempted to group a Porter collection of previous 78s.MY ears find 7 title (backed by Trotter) kind of tiring. The 1937 vocal of I NEVER REALIZED, backed by Victor Young is however better-with Bing's vocal producing a fine performance.

It's still ok to disagree. If I listen to "Begin The Beguine", I'll still get more into the committed Sinatra version with Axel Stordahl's excellent backing. Staying in the COLE PORTER range of songs, I am not stating that "I Never Realized" is the only definitive Porter ditty that he defined. His "Don't Fence Me In" with the Andrews Sisters, with Vic Schoen's backing remains excellent. His later voice in 1956 somehow met the challenge on the Porter songs with Grace Kelly on "True Love", with Louis Armstrong on "Now You Has Jazz" (more so a late jazz standard with Louis's band)) and with Frank himself on "Well Did You Evah" all reek of excellence and a commitment from all. The fab Johnny Green arrangements for this "High Society" film also included Nelson Riddle) You can say that Bing shared these latter songs. In any case they all have Bing's claims upon them. Maybe I just realized that my ears have noted 5 defined Cole Porter songs belonging to Bing?



 

Yes "Don't Fence Me In" was one of Bing's best recordings of a Cole Porter song also the "High Society" songs showed that good orchestration as well as good singing performances with improved recording techniques could bring out the best of Bing and Frank Sinatra.

Regarding Frank Sinatra's Columbia recordings i don't think they  were as well recorded as Bing's and Dick Haymes were at Decca alsom some of Axel Stordahl's arrangements haven't aged as well as the Nelson Riddle ones for Frank Sinatra at Capitol generally i think between 1939 and 1965 Sinatra for the most part could do no wrong but from 1966 things get a bit bumpy some of the bad recordings Sinatra made for Reprise were no different from what Mitch Miller foisted on him at Columbia i consider the "That's Life" album from 1966 with the exception of the title song to be Sinatra's worst Reprise album from the 1960s , he seemed sing songs he didn't believe in , ironicaaly it was Sinatra's last top 10 album in the states until the dreadful duets album in 2003.