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Mel Torme
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Mel Torme, known as the Velvet Fog, was a jazz great. He died shortly after leaving his his Beverly Hills home and rushing to the UCLA Medical Center for shortness of breathing. He had a stroke in 1996. His wife Ali, and 5 children, Steve, Melissa, Traci, Daisy and James were at his side at his time of death. His career spanned 70 years, starting with a Chicago radio broadcast in 1929.
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Mel Torme, who died June 5 at 73, was one of the great American singers of the century; he may well have been the single most underappreciated, too. His 15 minutes as a bobby-soxer idol aside, he was never a bona fide star. His biggest hits and greatest fame were behind him by the time he was 30. He never captured the Zeitgeist like Frank Sinatra; nor did MTV enshrine him as a grand old hipster like Tony Bennett. He cut an almost comical figure: squat, rotund, a little rumpled. But if Torme looked like Zero Mostel, he was every inch a "cat": a virtually unrivaled vocal virtuoso who moved effortlessly from glorious pop balladeering to quicksilver scat improvisations, singing with breathtaking technical precision and still managing to wring genuine feeling from every note.
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Mel Torme sings the Great American Song Book in intimate transcription recordings from 1947 and 1958. Songs by Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Jimmy McHugh and others. Backing by Dave Barbour, Buddy Cole, Jimmy Rowles, Phil Stephens, John Cyr and other jazz greats.
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These 26 episodes presented legends such as Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Count Basie, Ethel Merman, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, Bobby Darin, andDonald O'Connor among others. Look for a deluxe multi-disc DVD box set from Pioneer Entertainment this Fall of "The Judy Garland Show."
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Mel Torme was known for his elastic voice, sense of swing and effortless good taste. Arranger Billy May (he's dressed up like Speedy Gonzalez on the LP cover) was famous for his boisterous, good-humored, hard-driving charts. The two make for a perfect match on a theme album built around the Latin world. "Frenesi" and "The Rhumba Jumps," about American jazzers in the Caribbean, are standouts.
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Mel Torme is dead. He was 73. He had what was described at the time as "a mild stroke" in August 1996, but it put an end to his performing career and ultimately its complications killed him. He is survived by his wife and five children.
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Mel Torme