I was never a big Mel Tormé fan. So many of his recordings were heavy-handed and overly rendered, like drowning perfectly good pancakes in a lake of syrup. The problem is that Tormé was an incorrigible ham. Born with vocal gifts he maximized early, Tormé was reflexively intent on rubbing everyone's face in it. The hustler never stopped hustling. All of which takes nothing away from Tormé's talent, only his taste. Terry Teachout goes into further analysis of Torme's shortcomings here.
With my Tormé issues now surfaced and out of the way, I must add that there are recordings by the singer that are exceptional. Most are albums where Tormé was forced to stay in his lane. Interestingly, Tormé's lane wasn't the American Songbook, which he tended to abuse by laying it on too thick. Instead, Tormé was always much better on lesser known songs with a jazz quality that he sang with a patient, romantic sincerity.
Examples of Tormé at his finest include most of the Musicraft recordings with Artie Shaw and Page Cavanaugh in 1946 and '47, his Capitol sides in 1949 arranged by Pete Rugolo and his albums With the Marty Paich Dek-tette in 1956, Songs for Any Taste live at Gene Norman's Crescendo Club in 1957 and Sunday In New York & Other Songs About New York arranged by Dick Hazard, John Williams and Shorty Rogers in 1963. [Above, from left, Marty Paich and Mel Torme in the studio]
Now add another: Mel Tormé Sings About Love, which was recorded in Hollywood in December 1958 and first released commercially in the 1980s on Audiophile. The 26 tracks featured Vincent Terri and Allen Reuss (g), Jimmy Rowles and Bill Miller (p), Phil Stephens (b) and John Cyr (vib,perc). What's interesting here is that each of the songs lasts, on average, a minute and a half. They were recorded for World Broadcasting Service's transcription discs, which were leased to radio stations. These platters let disc jockeys air a Mel Tormé show or special, for example, without worrying about changing records. Every few songs, they'd simply take the tone arm off, read a few ads or break for the news and resume with Tormé.
Not only is there plenty of content on this album, the material is absolutely perfect. There isn't a bad tune in the batch, and each rendition is Tormé in his prime. The mood is casual and you have two of the most tasteful pianists in Hollywood at the time behind him.
Interestingly, the number of takes on these selections was high for Tormé, who was a notorious studio perfectionist. For example, six takes were needed for I Could Have Told You and there were five for Star Eyes and You Make Me Feel So Young. The session producer responsible for choosing the musicians and arranging the songs was Irv Orton, a 1950s Hollywood orchestrator and conductor who often was brought in to update the sound of older singers, such as Bing Crosby, Helen O'Connell, Dick Haymes and others. Even if you know little about Tormé or have the same problems with many of his recordings that I do, this is splendid work. I only wish Tormé and the ensemble had recorded another 200 songs.
Mel Tormé died in 1999. Irv Orton died in 1960.
JazzWax tracks: Mel Tormé's World Broadcasting Service date was done in two sessions in 1958. Audiophile in 1982 released them on two albums. Now you can get all 26 tracks on one CD—Mel Tormé Sings About Love—here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Mel Torme singing It's Easy to Remember (and So Hard to Forget). It doesn't get much better than this...
Note: If you want to hear more from this album, just let the video clip continue. Or go to the YouTube page for the song above and you'll find the other tracks.