Mel Torme - The Mel Torme Collection 1944-1985 [1996] + But Beautiful {Quadromania} [2005] (8 x CDs)

MEL TORME, THE VELVET FOG

Mel Torme - The Mel Torme Collection 1944-1985 [1996] + But Beautiful {Quadromania} [2005] (8 x CDs)

Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. “"Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" was made famous by Nat King Cole in 1946 and subsequently recorded in more than 1,700 versions. Tormé won two Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 14 times.

Mel Torme was a genuine musical prodigy. Tormé began singing professionally when he was just 4 years old. At age 6 he was in vaudeville, at 8 he starred on radio, and at 15 he composed his first hit, “Lament to Love.” As a teenager, he played the drums in Chico Marx's band and earned the nickname "The Velvet Fog" because of his smooth, mellow tenor voice. He mastered a variety of styles from mellow love songs to scat, and he wrote more than 300 songs. Tormé began touring with Chico Marx’s band just before he turned 17, and in 1943 he made his motion picture debut in Higher and Higher.  The same year he formed a quintet, Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones. , one of the first jazz-influenced vocal groups. Such other films as Good News (1947) and Words and Music (1948) followed, and Tormé became an idol of bobby-soxers. “Blue Moon,” which he sang in Words and Music, became his first solo hit and one of his signature tunes. In 1949 Capitol Records chose Tormé’s California Suite for its first long-playing album, and in 1954 he recorded Mel Tormé at the Crescendo, his first live album. As a solo musician, he had a number one hit in 1949 called "Careless Hands" and several lesser hits. He also acted in films and wrote several books, including biographies of Judy Garland and Buddy Rich. With the rise of rock music, Tormé’s career faltered, but it rebounded in the late 1970s. Eventually Tormé earned two Grammy Awards for best male jazz vocalist, for the albums An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé (1982) and Top Drawer (1983). His performing career lasted until he suffered a stroke in 1996. (B)

Up until he suffered a stroke at age 70 in 1996, singer Mel Tormé continued to improve with age and seemed to have inexhaustible energy. This four-CD set from Rhino does a fine job of covering Tormé's Pre-Concord output, although the omission of his Concord work of 1986-1995 is unfortunate for that catalog contains many of Tormé's most exciting recordings. In general, the earlier selections (some of which were with his vocal group the Mel-Tones) feature Tormé on hip (for the period) swing tunes and ballads. By the time he cut the sessions included on this set from 1954, the singer was quite mature and sounding very much like himself. The small group dates of the 1950s are generally much more rewarding than some of the slower numbers in which Tormé is accompanied by string orchestras and the 1956-1960 collaborations with the Marty Paich Dek-tette are classic. But once the 1960s hit, Tormé's career (at least on records) started to quickly decline. Although disc four (which covers 1962-1985) does its best to focus on Tormé's better recordings of the period, a few of the tracks (such as "Strangers in the Night," "A Day in the Life of Bonnie and Clyde," and "Yesterday When I Was Young") are pretty sappy. Things greatly improve once the singer reaches the year 1975 and there are enough high points throughout the set to justify its purchase by Tormé's many fans. Three previously unreleased selections (best is "Walkin' Shoes" with Shorty Rogers in 1962) are a plus and the colorful 84-page booklet is quite definitive. (AMG review by Scott Yanow)

Mel Torme - But Beautiful {Quadromania} [2005]

This box set is a compilation of songs by Mel Tormé and contains four CDs with 65 tracks in total, spanning from 1939 to 1956. Some of the songs included are “But Beautiful”, “Blue Moon”, “Night and Day”, and “California Suite”. The box set was released in 2005 by Membran Music Ltd., a German label that specializes in reissues of jazz and classical music1. The box set is part of the Quadromania series, which features four-disc collections of various artists . The label name is also printed in japanese as クアドロマニア on the releases. The box set is a great way to enjoy the smooth and versatile voice of Mel Tormé, who was nicknamed “The Velvet Fog” for his vocal style

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Track lists

The Mel Torme Collection 1944-1985 [1996]

CD01

01 Mel Torme - Where Or When 3:16

02 Mel Torme - A Stranger In Town 3:01

03 Mel Torme - Day By Day 2:53

04 Mel Torme - Willow Road 3:03

05 Mel Torme - Born To Be Blue 2:41

06 Mel Torme - What Is This Thing Called Love 2:58

07 Mel Torme - Get Out Of Town 3:17

08 Mel Torme - For You, For Me, Forevermore 3:07

09 Mel Torme - It's Dreamtime 3:05

10 Mel Torme - Gone With The Wind 3:00

11 Mel Torme - A Cottage For Sale 3:07

12 Mel Torme - Makin' Whoopee 2:54

13 Mel Torme - Night And Day 2:44

14 Mel Torme - County Fair 4:33

15 Mel Torme - Three Little Words 2:01

16 Mel Torme - Love Me Or Leave Me 1:47

17 Mel Torme - How High The Moon 2:22

18 Mel Torme - Careless Hands 3:18

19 Mel Torme - Blue Moon 3:13

20 Mel Torme - Again 3:13

21 Mel Torme - The Four Winds And The Seven Seas 3:08

22 Mel Torme - Got The Gate On The Golden Gate 3:35

23 Mel Torme - Cross Your Heart 2:40

24 Mel Torme - Bewitched 3:21

25 Mel Torme - It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 2:18

26 Mel Torme - All Of You 2:50

CD02

01 Mel Torme - That Old Black Magic 3:15

02 Mel Torme - Mountain Greenery 2:23

03 Mel Torme - Bernie's Tune 2:56

04 Mel Torme - Goody, Goody 2:32

05 Mel Torme - I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good 3:22

06 Mel Torme - All This And Heaven Too 3:38

07 Mel Torme - Isn't It Romantic 3:41

08 Mel Torme - Lulu's Back In Town 3:08

09 Mel Torme - The Blues 3:36

10 Mel Torme - Lullaby Of Birdland 4:55

11 Mel Torme - The Carioca 3:21

12 Mel Torme - Fascinating Rhythm 2:31

13 Mel Torme - The Lady Is A Tramp 2:55

14 Mel Torme - I've Got Pleenty Of Nuthin' 3:16

15 Mel Torme - Nice Work If You Can Get It 3:12

16 Mel Torme - The Way You Look Tonight 2:26

17 Mel Torme - A Foggy Day 2:48

18 Mel Torme - Something's Gotta Give 4:01

19 Mel Torme - Cheek To Cheek 3:02

20 Mel Torme - Just One Of Those Things 2:38

21 Mel Torme - I'm Beginning To See The Light 2:25

22 Mel Torme - It's All Right With Me 4:30

23 Mel Torme - Autumn Leaves 1:30

24 Mel Torme - Poor Little Extra Girl 5:10

CD03

01 Mel Torme - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square 3:33

02 Mel Torme - These Foolish Things 3:47

03 Mel Torme - Try A Little Tenderness 3:13

04 Mel Torme - Prelude To A Kiss 3:14

05 Mel Torme - I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart 2:01

06 Mel Torme - Blues In The Night 8:07

07 Mel Torme - Vaya Con Dios 3:22

08 Mel Torme - Frenesi 2:35

09 Mel Torme - At The Crossroads (Malaguena) 2:38

10 Mel Torme - It Happened In Monterey 2:51

11 Mel Torme - Too Close For Comfort 4:04

12 Mel Torme - Swingin' On The Moon 3:32

13 Mel Torme - Medley From 'wildcat': Far Away From Home / Angelina 5:08

14 Mel Torme - I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town 3:33

15 Mel Torme - Sent For You Yesterday (And Here You Come Today) 2:52

16 Mel Torme - By Myself 3:19

17 Mel Torme - (Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young 3:46

18 Mel Torme - It's Delovely 4:30

19 Mel Torme - Dat Dere 2:58

20 Mel Torme - On Green Dolphin Street 2:54

21 Mel Torme - Walkin' Shoes 3:01

CD04

01 Mel Torme - Comin' Home Baby 2:44

02 Mel Torme - Right Now 2:14

03 Mel Torme - Cast Your Fate To The Winds 2:20

04 Mel Torme - Hey, Look Me Over 3:08

05 Mel Torme - Forty Second Street 2:23

06 Mel Torme - Sunday In New York 2:32

07 Mel Torme - You'd Better Love Me 2:23

08 Mel Torme - I've Got You Under My Skin 2:48

09 Mel Torme - The Folks That Live On The Hill 3:38

10 Mel Torme - Haven't We Met 2:27

11 Mel Torme - Strangers In The Night 2:40

12 Mel Torme - A Day In The Life Of Bonnie And Clyde 2:42

13 Mel Torme - Yesterday When I Was Young 2:49

14 Mel Torme - What Are Your Doing The Rest Of Your Life 3:43

15 Mel Torme - Gershwin Medley 15:28

16 Mel Torme - Pick Yourself Up 4:41

17 Mel Torme - The Best Is Yet To Come 4:10

18 Mel Torme - Zaz Turned Blue 4:22

19 Mel Torme - Big City Blues 4:16

20 Mel Torme - Them From Arthur (Best That I Can Do) 4:32

21 Mel Torme - The Christmas Song 2:44

But Beatiful {Quadromania} [2005]

CD01

01 Mel Torme - You're Driving Me Crazy 3:07

02 Mel Torme - I'm Yours 3:01

03 Mel Torme - Who Cares What People Say 2:54

04 Mel Torme - Love Is The Sweetest Thing 3:04

05 Mel Torme - My Baby Just Cares For Me 2:36

06 Mel Torme - I Can't Give You Anything But Love 3:00

07 Mel Torme - Love You Funny Thing 2:57

08 Mel Torme - If I Had A Girl Like You 2:42

09 Mel Torme - Little White Lies 2:57

10 Mel Torme - California Suite 29:48

CD02

01 Mel Torme - I Got The Sun In The Morning 2:59

02 Mel Torme - What Is This Thing Called Love 2:59

03 Mel Torme - Born To Be Blue 2:39

04 Mel Torme - Night And Day 2:43

05 Mel Torme - Until The Real Thing Comes Along 2:54

06 Mel Torme - Guilty 3:06

07 Mel Torme - A Little White Kiss Each Morning 2:55

08 Mel Torme - It Happened In Monterey 2:51

09 Mel Torme - You're Driving Me Crazy 3:08

10 Mel Torme - But Beautiful 2:43

11 Mel Torme - Gone With The Wind 2:57

12 Mel Torme - Ballerina 3:12

13 Mel Torme - Makin' Whoopee 2:53

14 Mel Torme - I Cover The Waterfront 4:27

15 Mel Torme - A Foggy Day 2:53

16 Mel Torme - The Old Master Painter 2:49

17 Mel Torme - Lullaby Of The Leaves 2:21

18 Mel Torme - You're A Heavenly Thing 2:31

19 Mel Torme - Recipe For Romance 2:30

CD03

01 Mel Torme - How High The Moon 2:21

02 Mel Torme - Three Little Words 2:00

03 Mel Torme - Love Me Or Leave Me 1:46

04 Mel Torme - Careless Hands 3:15

05 Mel Torme - Blue Moon 3:12

06 Mel Torme - Again 3:11

07 Mel Torme - The Four Winds And The Seven Seas 3:05

08 Mel Torme - Got The Gate On The Golden Gate 3:33

09 Mel Torme - Cross Your Heart 2:38

10 Mel Torme - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered 3:19

11 Mel Torme - Stompin' At The Savoy 2:33

12 Mel Torme - Oh, You Beautiful Doll 2:18

13 Mel Torme - You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me 3:06

14 Mel Torme - It's Too Late Now 3:13

15 Mel Torme - Do Do Do 2:28

16 Mel Torme - Sonny Boy 2:44

17 Mel Torme - I Hadn't Anyone Till You 3:06

CD04

01 Mel Torme - All Of You 2:49

02 Mel Torme - My Rosemarie 2:33

03 Mel Torme - The Anything Can Happen Mambo 2:44

04 Mel Torme - Blue Moon 2:36

05 Mel Torme - You're Driving Me Crazy 2:14

06 Mel Torme - Blue Skies 2:15

07 Mel Torme - Rose O'day 2:21

08 Mel Torme - That Old Black Magic 3:12

09 Mel Torme - Country Fair 5:04

10 Mel Torme - The Hut Sut Song 2:25

11 Mel Torme - Cement Mixer 2:24

12 Mel Torme - Skylark 3:07

13 Mel Torme - I Love Each Move You Make 2:43

14 Mel Torme - I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling 2:51

15 Mel Torme - Bernie's Tune 2:58

16 Mel Torme - Goody Goody 2:31

17 Mel Torme - Mountain Greenery 2:20

18 Mel Torme - Hold Tight 2:35

19 Mel Torme - Spellbound 2:27

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