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In Reply to: RE: Mel Torme was also a badass drummer... posted by jazzthusiast on March 28, 2015 at 14:46:35
Terrific. This guy had everything: singer, songwriter, author, drummer, actor. The only thing he didn't have is Sinatra's sex appeal. Sad that he wasn't better known.
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he was very well known and appreciated in his peak years. He probably made a fortune during his life time just on income from tunes he wrote, alone, such as "The Christmas Song". Most entertainers would kill to "fail" as badly as Mel Torme'. If you name the top 5 male vocalists from about 1940 to 1980 (when the public actually gave a crap about jazz and male vocalists), you could not leave him out. Worst you can say about his success is that he was not as spectacularly successful as Sinatra.
"I think you're just too young"
Thanks for the compliment: I'm over sixty although that may be too young to have known him in his prime. I certainly didn't mean to indicate that he failed, just that he perhaps didn't get the notoriety that some of his fellow entertainers like Sinatra and Bennett did.
Very excellent and illuminating article by Terry Teachout about Torme. See link.
out shined his recordings. They may not have heard "Live In Tokyo" on Concord Jazz
"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to" Mark Twain
I think a New York critic first coined the phrase "The Velvet Fog" to describe Mel Torme's voice after he had heard a live performance, maybe at Carnegie Hall (not sure) in the very late 1940s. The voice if anything got a little more foggy in later years just in terms of tonal quality, but he never deteriorated vocally before he finally stopped performing altogether, at his death. His voice just changed and mellowed.
I've got the 2-LP recording, "Live at Mister ....'s" (maybe "Mister Charley's"), made live in the club in the mid-1980s, with Gerry Mulligan on hand. It's fabulous, my favorite Mel. I've nearly worn mine out in more than 20 years of ownership. I recently picked up the Shearing collaboration, only to find I already had a copy. Some of the studio recordings from what must be the early to mid-50s are just a bit too shmaltzy for me, with strings and choral accompaniment.
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Thanks for the reminder. Just pulled out my copy. Picked it up a few years ago for around $5. Very nice indeed, Mulligan is playing with Mel right now.
"Live at Marty's". It's available on CD, too. Highly recommended.
I remember he was Judge Harrys favorite on Night court. I bet that revitalized his career.
Proudly serving content-free posts since 1984.
it's not so easy to play drums with that part of the anatomy.
Ah yes, the "Velvet Fog".
Great looking wife, too.
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