Swings Shubert Alley (Limited Edition)

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Japanese limited edition Verve label jazz reissue featuring 24 bit remastering & the original artwork reproduced as a miniature LP sleeve. 2000 release.

Tracks:

Too Close For Comfort
Once In Love With Amy
A Sleepin' Bee
On The Street Where You Live
All I Need Is A Girl
Just In Time
Hello Young Lovers
The Surrey With Fringe On Top
Old Devil Moon
Whatever Lola Wants
Too Darn Hot
Lonely Town

Amazon.com essential recording

Chicago-born Mel Torme, affectionately nicknamed "The Velvet Fog" for his atmospheric, languorous vocal delivery, was a screen actor and stage performer as well as a singer in his early days, before pursuing music fulltime after World War II. Inevitably Torme's crooner-based style was compared to Frank Sinatra's, but such comparisons were superficial. Torme is the complete jazz singer on the 1960 classic Swings Shubert Alley, accompanied by an excellent band, featuring Art Pepper on alto saxophone and Mel Lewis on drums, playing pianist Marty Paich's arrangements of such Broadway classics as "Old Devil Moon," "On the Street Where You Live," and "Surrey with the Fringe on Top." --John Swenson

Customer Reviews:

fresh and invigorating - Mel does The West Coast Sound.......2007-05-17

Mel Torme had a curiously erratic career - child radio star, professional drummer, singing, arranging, acting, best selling author - about the only thing he didn't do professionally was dance, and he may have done that too. This recording shows his voice in near the top form of his career, performing arrangements that were written specifically for him by Marty Paich and performed by an all-star group of musicians, including Al Porcino on trumpet, Frank Rosolino on trombone, Art Pepper on alto and Mel Lewis on drums, among others. With arrangements clearly cast in the West Coast Sound, this CD re-release of the original January 1960 recording was the last of the Marty Paich / Mel Torme pairings on Verve, and doesn't equal the earlier Bethlehem releases with the Marty Paich Dektette and Orchestra. Nonetheless, it showcases Mel's astonishing control and technical ability as a vocalist of very nearly unequaled jazz ability (and I'm leaving out no one). Buy this, but also consider buying It's A Blue World, Mel Torme With The Marty Paich Dektette, and Mel Torme Sings Fred Astaire, first.

Quite pleasant 38 minutes of jazzed-up show tunes..........2007-01-09

I like jazz singing, and I like Broadway, and I like the kinds of records put out in the late '50's and early '60's, during my high school and college years. The only other Torme CD I owned was one he did with George Shearing live about 1990, and that is excellent also, but I wanted to hear the younger Mel. This is a nice choice to help the listener understand both why Torme was a favorite of other pro singers, and why he was not a mass appeal mega-star. Where he comes in behind Sinatra and say, Tony Bennett, is that those two could credibly "act" any lyric and make you believe they were living it. Mel sings well, but does not quite inhabit the situation in the songs. Where Torme outshines Bennett and Sinatra is in doing the songs with a true jazz sensibility rather than a "pop" approach. This CD is good for introducing people to Mel Torme. Fans of "Night Court" on TV who could not comprehend why Harry Anderson loved Mel so much will have a better idea after hearing this. The only one of the dozen songs which does not work is "Whatever Lola Wants" from "Damn Yankees"---never one of my favorites, but it always goes better if a woman is singing it. The rest of them, all good songs, are quite listener-friendly, not bland enough to be dull, and not scatted up so much they put one off.

Mel Tome Swings Hard and Fast.......2005-07-02

This album doesn't stop from the start to the end. It swings loud, hard, and fast. A classic, really shows that Torme was the greatest of his generation of singers! Buy This Album

If Broadway still swung like the way Torme swung it..........2003-06-05

...many shows might still be running.
This is an excellent CD, showcasing Torme at the top of his game. Not many people really know how many songs we now call "jazz standards" were actually born on the Broadway stage. Many think these songs might just be songs that were written for the sake of being a song. Most of the time, the songs were part of a larger story, but they could be pulled out of context and could stand up as their own entity. Such is the case with these tunes. And then they're swung! Torme and Paich style! Marty Paich's orchestrations mirror exactly Torme's sense of swing and style and playfulness in jazzing the Broadway tune. My favorite tracks would be "On The Street Where You Live" and "Too Darn Hot," the latter breaking the normal boundaries of how the song is structured and swinging back and forth between chorus and bridge.
This is way before Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sondheim (even though his lyrics are featured on "All I Need Is The Girl") so the songs are easily lifted out of the show and placed in the jazz club. That's not to say that they are any less sophisticated. Pour a glass of wine, put this CD on, and listen to another side of the Broadway tune.

The Essential Mel Torme Recording.......2003-04-18

'Swings Shubert Alley' is not only perhaps the finest of Mel Torme's recordings but also one of the finest jazz albums ever recorded. I highly recommend it for both Mel's impeccable swing, pitch, and vocalese and for the Marty Paich arrangements and the band's flawless execution. I bought this cd back in '94 after hearing 'Too Darn Hot' on NPR and I love it. In fact, my first copy is now scratched and I am going to buy another. Mel and the band are in excellant form on this album. If you love instrumental jazz buy this album for Frank Rosolino, Mel Lewis, Art Pepper, and the rest of this tight swinging small band. If you love show tunes, buy it for 'On the Street Where You Live' and 'Old Devil Moon' and 'Too Darn Hot.' If you are new to Mel Torme or love straight ahead, big band jazz, buy this cd.

Average customer rating:

Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley
Mel Torme
Manufacturer: Universal
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Swing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Broadway & Vocalists | Imports | Stores | Music

Pop | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00008K76I
Release Date: 2003-06-02

Tracks:

Too Close For Comfort
Once In Love With Amy
A Sleepin' Bee
On The Street Where You Live
All I Need Is A Girl
Just In Time
Hello, Young Lovers
Surrey With The Fringe On Top
Old Devil Moon
Whatever Lola Wants
Too Darn Hot
Lonely Town

Average customer rating:

MEL TORME SWINGS SHUBERT ALLEY
MEL TORME
Manufacturer: JAZZ HERITAGE
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000M51VP6

Product Description

TRACKS TOO CLOSE FOR COMFOR ONCE IN LOVE WITH AMY A SLEEPIN' BEE ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE ALL I NEED IS A GIRL JUST IN TINE HELLO YOUNG LOVERS THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE OLD DEVIL MOON WHATEVER LOLA WANTS LONELY TOWN

Average customer rating:

The Velvet Fog, in his Prime, but in the Studio

Swings Shubert Alley (Limited Edition)
Mel Torme
Manufacturer: Verve
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Verve | Verve Music Group | Specialty Stores | Music

Broadway & Vocalists | Imports | Stores | Music

Pop | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004U8YN
Release Date: 2000-06-01

Album Description

Japanese limited edition Verve label jazz reissue featuring 24 bit remastering & the original artwork reproduced as a miniature LP sleeve. 2000 release.

Album Details

Japanese Version Featuring A Limited Edition Lp Style Slipcase. 24 Bit Remastered.

Customer Reviews:

The Velvet Fog, in his Prime, but in the Studio.......2005-01-20

This album hit me somewhere between a "hard 4" and a "soft 5." What rating to give? What rating to give?

This album was recorded originally in 1960 and features Torme with one of his favorite back-ups, the Marty Paich Orchestra. Here, they do very tight arrangements of Broadway tunes. Whether well-known ("Surrey with the Fringe on Top", "On the Street Where You Live" or "Whatever Lola Wants", for example), obscure ("Once in Love with Amy" or "All I Need is a Girl", e.g.), or perhaps once obscure but now jazz standards ("A Sleepin' Bee", "Old Devil Moon" or "Lonely Town", to name but three), all of these tunes display consistently swinging arrangements showing a very high degree of musicianship throughout. Moreover, though Torme never really lost his chops until his major stroke toward the very end of his life, in 1960 he was in his prime.

What's the issue, then? When I think of Torme's very best, I think of his live albums. Granted, he had a bad habit of doing annoying, cloying between-song patter; but that's why you have the skip button on your c.d. player. More importantly, the ambience of the audience seemed to drive Mr. Torme to do his most stunning work. This album was all cut in the studio. There's nothing here that reaches the heights of "Love For Sale" from "Live at the Red Hill", or "Route 66" from "Live at the Maisonette", or "Autumn Leaves" from "Live at Marty's", or "Love is Just around the Corner" from "Live at Charlie's", to name but 4 examples. Here, "Too Close for Comfort" and "Too Darn Hot" might have made it to the same plateau, with the excitement of an audience egging him on; but everything here has a degree of restraint about it.

So, 4 stars or 5? I'm forced to resort to a highly scientific method: eenie, meenie, mynie, moe....

5 stars it is. RC

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