Torme’s style of sophisticated and casual swing was putty in the hands of arrangers like Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Neal Hefti, Pete Rugolo and Marty Paich, all adept of creating subtle harmonies of the horns to frame the vocalist in his best milieu. Torme gives definitive takes of “Skylark”, “Bewitched” and “Lullabye of the Leaves” with a mix of streetwise and innocent wanderlust. Torme road the “California Cool” wave like a Malibu longboarder, supported by Paich on classic takes of “Lulu’s Back in Town” (his signature tune), “Bernie’s Tune” and “Mountain Greenery”. For a handful of tunes, he mixed with similarly toned Peggy Lee for exquisite duets like “Don’t Fan the Flame” while sounding a bit poppier with Margaret Whiting on “Hey, Look Me Over”.
Looking back half a century, it’s difficult to appreciate the impact that Torme’s style and tone created, as over 75% of todays singers try to sound like him. As my daughter once said when I asked her why she didn’t listen to Buble’, “Hey, if I want to listen to Mel Torme’, I’ll listen to Mel Torme’, not an imitation.” Here’s the prototype.