Now It's Bing vs. Sinatra

I promise that this is the last music post for a while.  Reader Joe from Pierre opines:

Guys I suggest you go up one notch in your singer pecking order, as it were, to the top. Sinatra is the most important and influential entertainer of the 20th century. May I suggest
"Why Sinatra Matters" by Pete Hammel, as a good place to start.

I share Joe's high opinion of Sinatra.  One thing Sinatra had over Crosby is better taste.  Sinatra simply recorded better songs.  He had his own stable of great writers (e.g. Sammy Cahn) who consistently turned out great material for Sinatra to record.  But before we crown him the real king, I do want to point out that Crosby influenced a whole generation of singers, including Sinatra himself, and others like Dean Martin and Perry Como who self-consciously mimicked Crosby's smooth delivery.  Crosby was the first singer to appreciate that the new technology of the microphone meant that the singer could, and should, sing more softly.  Indeed, he must learn to croon.  But I don't want to claim too much.  After all is said and done, Sinatra is likely Crosby's superior.  Sinatra and Sextet Live In Paris is a revelation.  I highly recommend it. 

One more point and I swear I'll let this string of music posts go for a while.  If I were going to pick the best singer of that era (1930s-1950s) I would go with Ella Fitzgerald.  While often associated with jazz, Fitzgerald herself rejected the notion that she was a "jazz singer" in favor of the appellation "popular singer."  There are few recordings better than her series of "Songbooks" of the great American songwriters (e.g. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart).  The three CD collection of Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook is perhaps the finest set of recordings I own.  She takes my favorite songwriters, the Gershwins, and interprets them beautifully.  I recommend this and the other "Songbooks" as well as this breathtaking recording.   I see that, horror of horrors, according to Amazon the complete Gershwin Songbook is not available new (you can get it used). You now can only get a "Best of the Gershwin Songbook."  Someone shame Verve records into re-releasing this best of recordings.