Latest Release
- My Kind of Music · 1959
- Home Alone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Anniversary Edition] · 1990
- Christmas Songs · 1992
- A Time for Us · 1969
- 16 Most Requested Songs · 1993
- Comin' Home Baby! · 1962
- That's All · 1965
- Swingin' On the Moon · 1949
- Swingin' On the Moon · 1960
Essential Albums
- The title of this 1960 album says it all: The Velvet Fog sings jazz interpretations of songs from the heart of Manhattan’s theatrical district. Tormé's instantly recognizable voice is at ease with these Broadway tunes written between 1943 and 1959. Interacting with the agile and responsive Marty Paich Orchestra, he offers a smooth take on “A Sleepin’ Bee” and a suave interpretation of “Just in Time.” With his gravitas, Oklahoma's “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” sounds surprisingly sophisticated, while his refined instrument resembles a wailing alto saxophone during On the Town's “Lonely Town.” An energetic version of “On the Street Where You Live” (with the band hiply quoting both “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “Old Man River”) is highly recommended.
- Mel Tormé was reaching his artistic peak when he cut his classic string of albums with The Marty Paich Dek-Tette for the indie label Bethlehem Records in the mid-'50s. The second of these recordings remains among the most admired in Tormé's early discography. Though the singer's famous sobriquet was The Velvet Fog, on these sessions he's more like a velvet arrow; despite his luxurious tone, he darts in and out of the arrangements with an unerring trenchancy. Torme, who was in his 30s at the time, was influenced by the West Coast "cool jazz" movement that was then all the rage. There's definitely a touch of cool to his deceptively offhand-sounding phrasing on "Lulu's Back in Town" and "The Lady Is a Tramp," especially when Paich's band put their archly swinging riffs behind him. But Tormé has a foot set solidly in the romantic-balladeer mode too, and when he lays a tender trap with his seductively soft-pedaled approach on "Keeping Myself for You" and "When April Comes Again," he sounds like as much of a kindred spirit to Frank Sinatra as he does to cool-jazz king Chet Baker.
Artist Playlists
Singles & EPs
Appears On
About Mel Tormé
Long before he was a celebrated presence in film and television, this multitalented entertainer's crooning made him a midcentury sensation on the pop-jazz circuit. And while his sound and phrasing always carried a pleasing smoothness, he also brought an appropriate swing to tunes by the likes of Fats Waller. With a burnished sound that worked wonders in torch songs, Broadway tunes, and classics by Ellington, Tormé cut a unique path through 20th-century American music.
- FROM
- Chicago, IL, United States
- BORN
- 1925
- GENRE
- Jazz