The hardest swing album ever put out by Frank Sinatra

It is sort of strange to think of Frank Sinatra putting out an album of "dance" music, but "Come Dance With Me!" is really just his hardest swing album. Although you may well think it was Nelson Riddle, Sinatra was working again with arranger/composer Billy May on this 1958 album. The two had done some early singles for Columbia, teamed up again for the hit 1957 album "Come Fly With Me!" and had a similar success with a pair of 1961 albums, "Come Swing With Me!" and "Swing Along With Me." There are some slower tempo numbers on this album, but the best are driven by that big brassy horn section playing loudly. The title track is as good a swingin' song as anything Sinatra ever sang and "Dancing in the Dark" and "Day In-Day Out" are pretty good too. Sinatra even sings a little Broadway with "I Could Have Danced All Night" from "My Fair Lady."

"Come Dance With Me!" made it to #2 on the Billboard charts and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. This album is already on my short list of the ten essential Frank Sinatra albums in the history of the world, but there are four bonus tracks tacked on, including two more by Sammy Cahn, one of which, "How Are Ya' Fixed For Love?", was the album's one hit single, reaching No. 22. Of course, at this point in time there was no reason to release a lot of singles. The main thing you needed to sell a Frank Sinatra album was to put the man's name and face on the cover.