CD1
1. From This Moment On
2. September Song
3. That Old Black Magic
4. Get Out Of Town
5. My Shining Hour
6. Goody, Goody
7. County Fair
8. The Christmas Song
9. A Stranger In Town
10. I Wish I Were In Love Again
11. Moonlight In Vermont
12. You’re Driving Me Crazy
13. Bernie’s Tune
14. Our Love Is Here To Stay
15. Old Devil Moon
16. Blue Moon
17. Have You Met Miss Jones?
18. Jeepers Creepers
19. Mountain Greenery
20. Imagination
21. Get Happy
CD2
1. It’s Only A Paper Moon
2. What Is This Thing Called Love?
3. One For My Baby
4. Love Is Just A Bug
5. A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
6. Autumn Leaves
7. Just One Of Those Things
8. The Girl Next Door
9. Lover Come Back To Me
10. Looking At You
11. The Tender Trap
12. I’m Beginning To See The Light
13. It’s All Right With Me
14. Manhattan
15. Taking A Chance On Love
16. Home By The Sea
17. It’s De-Lovely
18. Tenderly
19. I Wish I Was In Love Again
20. Nobody’s Heart
Mel Tormé - Vocals, piano
Al Pellegrini - Piano, clarinet (CD1)
Jim Dupre - Bass (CD1)
Dick Shanahan - Drums, bongoes (CD1)
Marty Paich - Piano, accordion (CD2)
Don Fagerquist - Trumpet (CD2)
Max Bennett - Bass (CD2)
Mel Lewis - Drums (CD2)
Larry Bunker - Conga drums, accordion (CD2)
Some songs are indelibly
associated with particular singers: for example,
Manhattan with Ella Fitzgerald and
Cry Me a River with Julie London. Mel
Tormé first came to many people's attention
with Mountain Greenery, a Rodgers &
Hart song which was a big hit for Mel and
kept him in the British pop charts for 19
weeks in 1956. The song is included in this
double CD which comprises two sessions recorded
at the Crescendo in Hollywood in 1954 and
1957.
On the 1954 recordings, Tormé
is accompanied by the Al Pellegrini Trio.
Mel was a capable pianist (and drummer and
arranger) as well as vocalist, so he takes
over the piano for some tracks from Pellegrini,
who switches to the clarinet. The second CD
has Mel backed by the Marty Paich Quintet.
Tormé made some of his finest recordings
with Marty Paich's larger groups but he works
well with Paich's smaller group, which included
trumpeter Don Fagerquist (scorching on Lover
Come Back to Me).
Both sessions display Tormé
singing mainly jazz standards with his inimitable
charm, perfect pitching and improvisatory
skill. Some jazz vocalists are overrated while
Tormé tends to be overlooked, but he
was a unique jazz singer who improvised like
a jazz soloist. As proof of his vocal expertise,
sample his scatting on Bernie's Tune,
the extraordinarily long note he holds at
the end of Old Devil Moon, or his daringly
delayed phrasing in Just One of Those Things.
He handles ballads with the same apparent
relaxation as faster numbers - a relaxation
that comes from the confidence he could have
after honing his talents with bands led by
Chico Marx and Artie Shaw, and his own vocal
group, the Mel-Tones. After all, his first
professional vocal appearance was at the age
of four!
Tormé also comes across
as the consummate entertainer, creating a
good rapport with the audience. He even tries
out some comedy on Autumn Leaves, which
he sings in French, although it starts nearer
to Franglais. The multi-talented Tormé
was also a considerable composer: he had a
hand in writing three tracks on the first
CD. His best-known composition is The Christmas
Song but he also wrote A Stranger in
Town and the multi-part County Fair.
This latter is a remarkable mini-song-cycle
which passes through several tempos and moods,
conjuring up a typically American festivity.
We have good reason to be
grateful to Gene Norman (who part-owned the
Crescendo club), for thinking of setting up
recording equipment to capture the singer
in action. Tormé recorded many notable
albums after this (I would especially recommend
his duets with George Shearing) but his consistency
was such that almost any album he recorded
is worth acquiring. This double CD deserves
to be in every jazz fan's collection,
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Fresh
Sound FSR-CD 476
