Jazz Articles about Mel Torme

Mel Torme/Marty Paich Dek-'tette: In The Studio And In Concrt

by Mark Corroto
January 1, 2001

As a fan of today’s free jazz, I must admit an unashamed devotion to several artists considered square (O.K. draw the box with your fingers). Growing up with my parents favorites Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, and Mel Torme their music made an indelible impression somewhere deep in my brain. Long after my parents stopped buying 78s and LPs, I cheered the resurgence of Torme and Bennett’s careers. But where Tony was more a pop singer (a vocal forerunner of Bruce ...

Mel Torme & the Marty Paich Dek-tette: In the Studio and in Concert

by Dave Hughes
January 1, 2001

Concord has launched a series of reissues which pair similar albums recorded by an artist in a specially-priced 2-CD sets. Mel Torme recorded for Concord during the later period of his distinguished career, still in fine voice, and these two pairings with the Marty Paich Dek-tette make up this set. The first, Reunion, refers to the fact this session from 1988 is the first and only studio recording made by Mel and Marty since their collaborations in the 50s. Following ...

Mel Torme: In The Studio And In Concert

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2001

As Concord re-releases some of its classic Mel Tormé albums, it becomes increasingly clear to even the most casual listener that he improved with age. Like the very best of the big band singers, and in fact like the best of the jazz singers, Tormé was in sync with the instrumentalists who supported him, his voice emerging as the leading instrument of any group he was in. Even though Tormé admired Ella Fitzgerald's scat singing, his approach to scat departed ...

Mel Torme: My Kind of Music

by David Adler
October 1, 2000

This 1961 reissue features the late Mel Torme accompanied by three London-based orchestras, led respectively by Geoff Love, Tony Osborne, and Wally Stott. It stands apart from scores of other jazz vocal albums in that nearly half the program consists of Torme’s original songs. The remaining tunes are by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, including a frenetic, conga-driven “You and the Night and the Music," a sumptuous “Alone Together," and the toe-tapping, irrepressible finale, “A Shine on Your Shoes."

Mel Torme: The Best Of The Concord Years

by Jim Santella
December 1, 1999

Mel Tormé sang “You’re Driving Me Crazy" at the Blackhawk Club in Chicago when he was only four years old. Many years later, as a Musicraft 78-rpm single, it marked the beginning of his solo ballad career. This 2-CD compilation includes a stirring performance of the same song made in August 1990 at the Concord Pavilion. The Velvet Fog could caress a melody. He could also massage it, turn it upside down, fast-forward the bridge, and introduce his accompanists clearly ...

Mel Torme: Lulu's Back In Town

by Mark Corroto
May 1, 1999

Mel’s hip. Period. There’s not a kitsch bone in his body. The television show Night Court did him the greatest disservice by focusing its boob-tube pop sensibilities upon him. Or perhaps, without the blessings of the tragically un-cool keepers of popular culture, many would never get the chance to hear the “Velvet Fog.” The latest word is Kenny G is working on a jazz standards record. But I digress. This recording is Torme’s first with Marty Paich’s Dek-tette, a ten ...

Mel Torm: My Night to Dream

by Robert Spencer
February 1, 1998

Mel Tormé explains in the liner notes to this collection that has “never recorded a straight album of ballads" during his fifteen years with Concord Jazz. “But I've always wanted to do an album exclusively of songs that have the air of moonlight at midnight." So here it is: not a new recording, but twelve tracks culled from his sixteen Concord discs to put you fervently into that midnight mood.

The only problem with a collection like this is a ...