Mel Torme Dies
A Great Jazz Voice Is Stilled [This piece was written in June, 1999.]
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.
As we reach the end of the 20th Century more and more of our century’s musical icons are dying. We’ve lost Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald – and now Mel Torme. He leaves a Mel Torme-sized hole in our musical landscape.
Torme was a Renaissance man – and a child prodigy who first performed onstage at the age of four. Torme is best known as a singer, but he was also a fine pianist, drummer, and arranger. And on the side he acted, usually playing himself or someone much like him – following in the footsteps of Hoagy Carmichael and Oscar Levant.
In an odd way his acting helped rejuvenate his singing career. In the late Eighties he began making a series of spot guest appearances on Harry Anderson’s NBC comedy series, Night Court, which he credited with bringing a new and younger generation of audiences to his performances. Anderson is quoted by The Associated Press as saying of Torme, "What a remarkable guy. What a one of a kind. It’s a tremendous loss. He was a fabulous guy, great sense of humor, as sweet as an elf." Torme was the musical idol of Anderson’s character, Judge Harold T. Stone – and very probably of Anderson himself.
Torme was born in Chicago on September 13, 1925, and he first carved out a reputation for himself as a child actor and performer on radio. By the age of nine he was a veteran of Chicago radio series, while at the same time working in vaudeville and learning to play the drums. When he was fifteen, band leader and trumpeter Harry James offered him a job in his band as a singer and drummer – but child labor laws kept Mel from taking it.
In 1942 his family took him to Los Angeles, where he went to Hollywood High and joined the Chico Marx band as a drummer, arranger and singer. In 1943 Torme appeared in the movie Higher And Higher, with his vocal swing band, the Mel-Tones. It was at this point that he first began recording. His career was interrupted by a stint in the military during the latter part of World War II, but he was out and ready for a solo career by 1946.
As a singer Torme combined a soft, husky voice (which he attributed to a botched tonsillectomy) with impeccable timing and a jazz sensibility. But his managers guided him into becoming what was then called a "crooner," the kind of matinee-idol singer created by Bing Crosby and exemplified by Frank Sinatra. Despite lacking the kind of looks associated with bobby-soxer idolization – Torme was always stocky, with vaguely doughy features – he was a hit singer. And it was in this period of early fame and adulation that he was crowned "the Velvet Fog" – a sobriquet he always hated.
Torme signed on early with the fledgling postwar Capitol label, and rode to success with it, releasing Capitol’s first LP, California Suite. But Capitol, despite being founded as a musician’s label, pushed Torme to follow Sinatra’s footsteps to popular success, and his career grew cold, his early promise starting to fade. It made news in Down Beat when, in 1955, Torme left Capitol for the small independent and jazz-oriented Bethlehem label and started singing jazz again. "If you’re going to fail, do it with style," Torme said, jokingly, about the transition. Bethlehem cast Torme in the role of Porgy in its jazz version of Porgy And Bess (with Frances Faye as Bess) – an unlikely but successful role for him.
Torme was rarely to be found in the Top Hits charts after that – although his 1962 "Comin’ Home Baby" did crack the Top 40 – but he was liberated to follow his own choices in his career, and as Richard Harrington suggests in The Washington Post, "It’s doubtful the longevity that marked Torme’s career would have been possible had he not presciently moved to jazz more than forty years ago."
"It really wasn’t until the end of my high school days, in 1943, that I determined to be a jazz singer," Torme once said. "Then I got sidetracked. For a long period I was singing mushy, sentimental songs. I never liked it."
One of those sentimental songs was "The Christmas Song," which he cowrote with Robert Wells. It was a huge hit for Nat "King" Cole in 1946 and has been an evergreen since then. (If the title doesn’t jog your memory, the opening lines will: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose….") Torme subsequently wrote around 300 songs, more than half, including "Born To Be Blue," in collaboration with Wells.
In the late Seventies Torme began working with fellow jazz pianist George Shearing. "I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year," said Shearing. "We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, ‘We were two bodies of one musical mind.’" They won two Grammy awards together. In 1984 Torme said of their pairing, "We have a genuine friendship and I think it absolutely transmits itself on the stage and beyond the music."
Torme’s devotion to music all but eclipses other important aspects of his career. In the early Fifties he hosted the first afternoon talk show on TV. He wrote six books, including The Other Side of the Rainbow, the 1970 best-selling behind-the-scenes description of his year as the musical director of Judy Garland’s prime-time TV show. Among the other books were his 1988 autobiography, It Wasn’t All Velvet, books about drummer Buddy Rich and his singing influences, and several novels.
Torme was in twenty films early in his career (most of them better forgotten), and made a secondary career for himself in TV, winning an Emmy nomination for a Playhouse 90 role in 1957. In addition to Night Court, he also made appearances on Seinfeld and MTV’s Beach House – and even starred in a Mountain Dew commercial.
A check of the Internet reveals close to one hundred Mel Torme albums available on CD – a sizeable musical legacy which will not be soon forgotten and which will be available for our listening pleasure for many years to come.
In a related story, Ernie Wilkins, a jazz saxophonist and composer who rose to prominence playing with and arranging for Count Basie and later Dizzy Gillespie’s last big band in the Fifties, has died in Copenhagen after a stroke. He was 79 and a contemporary of Torme’s. We are entering the end of an era.
Mel Torme Dies A Great Jazz Voice Is Stilled [This piece was written in June, 1999.] 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. As we reach the end of the 20th Century more and more of our century’s musical icons are dying. We’ve lost Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald – and now Mel Torme. He leaves a Mel Torme-sized hole in our musical landscape. Torme was a Renaissance man – and a child prodigy who first performed onstage at the age of four. Torme is best known as a singer, but he was also a fine pianist, drummer, and arranger. And on the side he acted, usually playing himself or someone much like him – following in the footsteps of Hoagy Carmichael and Oscar Levant. In an odd way his acting helped rejuvenate his singing career. In the late Eighties he began making a series of spot guest appearances on Harry Anderson’s NBC comedy series, Night Court, which he credited with bringing a new and younger generation of audiences to his performances. Anderson is quoted by The Associated Press as saying of Torme, "What a remarkable guy. What a one of a kind. It’s a tremendous loss. He was a fabulous guy, great sense of humor, as sweet as an elf." Torme was the musical idol of Anderson’s character, Judge Harold T. Stone – and very probably of Anderson himself. Torme was born in Chicago on September 13, 1925, and he first carved out a reputation for himself as a child actor and performer on radio. By the age of nine he was a veteran of Chicago radio series, while at the same time working in vaudeville and learning to play the drums. When he was fifteen, band leader and trumpeter Harry James offered him a job in his band as a singer and drummer – but child labor laws kept Mel from taking it. In 1942 his family took him to Los Angeles, where he went to Hollywood High and joined the Chico Marx band as a drummer, arranger and singer. In 1943 Torme appeared in the movie Higher And Higher, with his vocal swing band, the Mel-Tones. It was at this point that he first began recording. His career was interrupted by a stint in the military during the latter part of World War II, but he was out and ready for a solo career by 1946. As a singer Torme combined a soft, husky voice (which he attributed to a botched tonsillectomy) with impeccable timing and a jazz sensibility. But his managers guided him into becoming what was then called a "crooner," the kind of matinee-idol singer created by Bing Crosby and exemplified by Frank Sinatra. Despite lacking the kind of looks associated with bobby-soxer idolization – Torme was always stocky, with vaguely doughy features – he was a hit singer. And it was in this period of early fame and adulation that he was crowned "the Velvet Fog" – a sobriquet he always hated. Torme signed on early with the fledgling postwar Capitol label, and rode to success with it, releasing Capitol’s first LP, California Suite. But Capitol, despite being founded as a musician’s label, pushed Torme to follow Sinatra’s footsteps to popular success, and his career grew cold, his early promise starting to fade. It made news in Down Beat when, in 1955, Torme left Capitol for the small independent and jazz-oriented Bethlehem label and started singing jazz again. "If you’re going to fail, do it with style," Torme said, jokingly, about the transition. Bethlehem cast Torme in the role of Porgy in its jazz version of Porgy And Bess (with Frances Faye as Bess) – an unlikely but successful role for him. Torme was rarely to be found in the Top Hits charts after that – although his 1962 "Comin’ Home Baby" did crack the Top 40 – but he was liberated to follow his own choices in his career, and as Richard Harrington suggests in The Washington Post, "It’s doubtful the longevity that marked Torme’s career would have been possible had he not presciently moved to jazz more than forty years ago." "It really wasn’t until the end of my high school days, in 1943, that I determined to be a jazz singer," Torme once said. "Then I got sidetracked. For a long period I was singing mushy, sentimental songs. I never liked it." One of those sentimental songs was "The Christmas Song," which he cowrote with Robert Wells. It was a huge hit for Nat "King" Cole in 1946 and has been an evergreen since then. (If the title doesn’t jog your memory, the opening lines will: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose….") Torme subsequently wrote around 300 songs, more than half, including "Born To Be Blue," in collaboration with Wells. In the late Seventies Torme began working with fellow jazz pianist George Shearing. "I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year," said Shearing. "We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, ‘We were two bodies of one musical mind.’" They won two Grammy awards together. In 1984 Torme said of their pairing, "We have a genuine friendship and I think it absolutely transmits itself on the stage and beyond the music." Torme’s devotion to music all but eclipses other important aspects of his career. In the early Fifties he hosted the first afternoon talk show on TV. He wrote six books, including The Other Side of the Rainbow, the 1970 best-selling behind-the-scenes description of his year as the musical director of Judy Garland’s prime-time TV show. Among the other books were his 1988 autobiography, It Wasn’t All Velvet, books about drummer Buddy Rich and his singing influences, and several novels. Torme was in twenty films early in his career (most of them better forgotten), and made a secondary career for himself in TV, winning an Emmy nomination for a Playhouse 90 role in 1957. In addition to Night Court, he also made appearances on Seinfeld and MTV’s Beach House – and even starred in a Mountain Dew commercial. A check of the Internet reveals close to one hundred Mel Torme albums available on CD – a sizeable musical legacy which will not be soon forgotten and which will be available for our listening pleasure for many years to come. In a related story, Ernie Wilkins, a jazz saxophonist and composer who rose to prominence playing with and arranging for Count Basie and later Dizzy Gillespie’s last big band in the Fifties, has died in Copenhagen after a stroke. He was 79
Mel Torme Dies
A Great Jazz Voice Is Stilled [This piece was written in June, 1999.]
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.
As we reach the end of the 20th Century more and more of our century’s musical icons are dying. We’ve lost Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald – and now Mel Torme. He leaves a Mel Torme-sized hole in our musical landscape.
Torme was a Renaissance man – and a child prodigy who first performed onstage at the age of four. Torme is best known as a singer, but he was also a fine pianist, drummer, and arranger. And on the side he acted, usually playing himself or someone much like him – following in the footsteps of Hoagy Carmichael and Oscar Levant.
In an odd way his acting helped rejuvenate his singing career. In the late Eighties he began making a series of spot guest appearances on Harry Anderson’s NBC comedy series, Night Court, which he credited with bringing a new and younger generation of audiences to his performances. Anderson is quoted by The Associated Press as saying of Torme, "What a remarkable guy. What a one of a kind. It’s a tremendous loss. He was a fabulous guy, great sense of humor, as sweet as an elf." Torme was the musical idol of Anderson’s character, Judge Harold T. Stone – and very probably of Anderson himself.
Torme was born in Chicago on September 13, 1925, and he first carved out a reputation for himself as a child actor and performer on radio. By the age of nine he was a veteran of Chicago radio series, while at the same time working in vaudeville and learning to play the drums. When he was fifteen, band leader and trumpeter Harry James offered him a job in his band as a singer and drummer – but child labor laws kept Mel from taking it.
In 1942 his family took him to Los Angeles, where he went to Hollywood High and joined the Chico Marx band as a drummer, arranger and singer. In 1943 Torme appeared in the movie Higher And Higher, with his vocal swing band, the Mel-Tones. It was at this point that he first began recording. His career was interrupted by a stint in the military during the latter part of World War II, but he was out and ready for a solo career by 1946.
As a singer Torme combined a soft, husky voice (which he attributed to a botched tonsillectomy) with impeccable timing and a jazz sensibility. But his managers guided him into becoming what was then called a "crooner," the kind of matinee-idol singer created by Bing Crosby and exemplified by Frank Sinatra. Despite lacking the kind of looks associated with bobby-soxer idolization – Torme was always stocky, with vaguely doughy features – he was a hit singer. And it was in this period of early fame and adulation that he was crowned "the Velvet Fog" – a sobriquet he always hated.
Torme signed on early with the fledgling postwar Capitol label, and rode to success with it, releasing Capitol’s first LP, California Suite. But Capitol, despite being founded as a musician’s label, pushed Torme to follow Sinatra’s footsteps to popular success, and his career grew cold, his early promise starting to fade. It made news in Down Beat when, in 1955, Torme left Capitol for the small independent and jazz-oriented Bethlehem label and started singing jazz again. "If you’re going to fail, do it with style," Torme said, jokingly, about the transition. Bethlehem cast Torme in the role of Porgy in its jazz version of Porgy And Bess (with Frances Faye as Bess) – an unlikely but successful role for him.
Torme was rarely to be found in the Top Hits charts after that – although his 1962 "Comin’ Home Baby" did crack the Top 40 – but he was liberated to follow his own choices in his career, and as Richard Harrington suggests in The Washington Post, "It’s doubtful the longevity that marked Torme’s career would have been possible had he not presciently moved to jazz more than forty years ago."
"It really wasn’t until the end of my high school days, in 1943, that I determined to be a jazz singer," Torme once said. "Then I got sidetracked. For a long period I was singing mushy, sentimental songs. I never liked it."
One of those sentimental songs was "The Christmas Song," which he cowrote with Robert Wells. It was a huge hit for Nat "King" Cole in 1946 and has been an evergreen since then. (If the title doesn’t jog your memory, the opening lines will: "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose….") Torme subsequently wrote around 300 songs, more than half, including "Born To Be Blue," in collaboration with Wells.
In the late Seventies Torme began working with fellow jazz pianist George Shearing. "I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year," said Shearing. "We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, ‘We were two bodies of one musical mind.’" They won two Grammy awards together. In 1984 Torme said of their pairing, "We have a genuine friendship and I think it absolutely transmits itself on the stage and beyond the music."
Torme’s devotion to music all but eclipses other important aspects of his career. In the early Fifties he hosted the first afternoon talk show on TV. He wrote six books, including The Other Side of the Rainbow, the 1970 best-selling behind-the-scenes description of his year as the musical director of Judy Garland’s prime-time TV show. Among the other books were his 1988 autobiography, It Wasn’t All Velvet, books about drummer Buddy Rich and his singing influences, and several novels.
Torme was in twenty films early in his career (most of them better forgotten), and made a secondary career for himself in TV, winning an Emmy nomination for a Playhouse 90 role in 1957. In addition to Night Court, he also made appearances on Seinfeld and MTV’s Beach House – and even starred in a Mountain Dew commercial.
A check of the Internet reveals close to one hundred Mel Torme albums available on CD – a sizeable musical legacy which will not be soon forgotten and which will be available for our listening pleasure for many years to come.
In a related story, Ernie Wilkins, a jazz saxophonist and composer who rose to prominence playing with and arranging for Count Basie and later Dizzy Gillespie’s last big band in the Fifties, has died in Copenhagen after a stroke. He was 79 and a contemporary of Torme’s. We are entering the end of an era.
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