Mel Amery

One of Mel Torme's hippest albums of the 60s - and a strong shift towards more swinging material after some of his mellower work for other labels! There's a bit of electric piano in the mix, and plenty of that Atlantic records pop/soul jazz approach - a take on soul jazz that's similar to tunes by Herbie Mann at the same time, but with vocals. The whole thing's filled with greatly grooving tracks - and it draws no small influence from Jon Hendricks' excellent work of the time!

Mel Tormé and Buddy Rich had been friends for decades prior to finally getting around to recording together. Although largely a Tormé vocal record, the Buddy Rich Orchestra, with guest altoist Phil Woods, is in top form, and the drummer/leader has several solos…

This collection of Artie Shaw big band recordings comes from his brief association with the Musicraft label. Having assembled and broken up several earlier units, this edition, heard in recordings made between 1945 and 1946, is more of an arranger's band than one that features many soloists, other than the leader. During this period of Shaw's career, he was constantly changing the instrumentation of his band and making personnel substitutions. Fellow Musicraft artist Mel Tormé and his group the Mel-Tones are added on some tracks, though this was a studio relationship exclusively and they were not a part of Shaw's organization. The innovative blend of strings, voices and brass in the swinging arrangement of "What Is This Thing Called Love" is the highlight of the vocal selections, along with an updated instrumental version of the clarinetist's earlier hit, "Begin the Beguine." The only reservation about this compilation is that several tracks are abruptly faded or even truncated.

Mel Tormé's 1965 album That's All features beautiful vocals throughout the set, but there are a few problems. The arrangements (mostly by Robert Mersey) are essentially unimaginative middle-of-the-road pop with an orchestra and occasional strings and background singers greatly weighing down the proceedings. The album's selections (all ballads) are mostly taken at slow tempos and are clearly geared for radio airplay, clocking in around the three-minute mark, which means that Tormé's improvising is held to a minimum…

One of Mel Torme's hippest albums of the 60s - and a strong shift towards more swinging material after some of his mellower work for other labels! There's a bit of electric piano in the mix, and plenty of that Atlantic records pop/soul jazz approach - a take on soul jazz that's similar to tunes by Herbie Mann at the same time, but with vocals. The whole thing's filled with greatly grooving tracks - and it draws no small influence from Jon Hendricks' excellent work of the time!