Mel Torme – Torme

A new chapter at Verve

Tormé was recorded at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles in June 1958 and released in February 1959. It was Mel Tormé’s first album for Verve. Norman Granz produced, while Marty Paich arranged and conducted the orchestra. The singer and arranger had already been working together in the mid-1950s, including their Dek-Tette project. This album could therefore draw on an established musical relationship. The label change provides the outer setting, while Tormé and Paich’s familiarity connects the recording with earlier work.

The program contains twelve songs. Familiar standards sit alongside less obvious selections, and the lengths vary considerably. Those choices establish a dramatic shape that does not depend on the lead voice alone. The repertoire calls for different tempos, spans of tension and approaches to accompaniment. Paich’s orchestra participates in those decisions. Tormé is working with developed arrangements that help determine the course of each piece. Recording and release dates should remain distinct: the performances were made in 1958, and the album appeared in 1959.

The voice and Marty Paich’s orchestra

Paich is credited with piano and celesta as well as arranging and conducting. The ensemble includes different brass and woodwind groups and additional orchestral colors; Frank Rosolino is documented on trombone. Many of the other individual names come from later label credits. Such a list is useful when its limits remain visible. It should not suggest a complete, track-specific session roster where none is established. The personnel information for this edition therefore distinguishes the documented central participants from supplementary names preserved in later credits.

The relationship between language and arrangement offers a way into the performances. Where does the orchestra pick up a vocal turn, where does it let a line stand, and when does a new instrumental color introduce an accent of its own? Tormé’s phrasing can be followed as part of that shared timing. Words are shaped through pauses, emphasis and the accompanists’ responses as well as through the notes sung. Paich and Tormé’s previous work explains the background to the collaboration without requiring a generalized claim about the sound of every track.

Twelve songs on different scales

The first side moves from “That Old Feeling” through “Gloomy Sunday” and “Body And Soul” to “Nobody’s Heart,” “I Should Care” and “The House Is Haunted.” Side two includes “Blues In The Night,” “Where Can I Go Without You,” “How Did She Look?” and “’Round Midnight.” These titles carry different histories. Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Blues In The Night” dates from 1941; “’Round Midnight” leads to Thelonious Monk and, in its vocal form, to a separate lyrical context. The album brings these strands into a common orchestral setting.

The difference in scale between the extended “Blues In The Night” and the shorter songs is particularly revealing. A longer performance has to develop tension differently from a compact one. Listen for which sections belong to the voice, where the arrangement takes over and how the next entrance is prepared. “I Don’t Want To Cry Anymore” and “I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life” complete the second side. These twelve tracks form the original album sequence; additional pieces found on other compilations are not included. The record therefore preserves the shape of this particular release rather than becoming a general anthology of Tormé performances.

The Verve Acoustic Sounds Series edition

This reissue is part of the Verve/UMe Acoustic Sounds Series: one 180-gram stereo LP playing at 33⅓ RPM. Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound handled mastering, with the publisher identifying original analog tapes as the source. Quality Record Pressings manufactures the record, and Stoughton supplies the gatefold jacket. The product number is AVER 27336. These details refer to the present edition and should remain separate from the circumstances of the original recording.

The twelve-track program is the essential reference point. It documents Tormé’s arrival at Verve and another collaboration with Marty Paich, recorded in 1958 and released in 1959. Orchestral accompaniment, repertoire and the different musical forms all belong to that story. Listeners who know Tormé through individual standards can discover their place within a complete album. This edition presents that context on one LP, while the personnel notes retain the distinction between directly established participants and the fuller names only documented in later credit sources.

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Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• Mel TormévocalsParticipation: Album personnel
• Marty Paicharrangement, conductor, piano, celestaParticipation: Album personnel
• Frank RosolinotromboneParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed
• Buddy ChilderstrumpetParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Dick CollinstrumpetParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Frank BeachtrumpetParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Jack SheldontrumpetParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• George RobertstromboneParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Vincent DeRosaFrench hornParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Richard PerissiFrench hornParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• John KitzmillertubaParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Bud ShankwoodwindsParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Bill PerkinswoodwindsParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Dave PellwoodwindsParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Med FlorywoodwindsParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Joe MondragonbassParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Alvin Stollerdrums, marimba, bongos, timpaniParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003
• Shelly Mannedrums, marimba, bongos, timpaniParticipation: Track assignments unconfirmed · label credit, 2003

Tormé, Paich and Rosolino are documented. Other names follow supplementary label credits from the 2003 CD; their track assignments remain unconfirmed. The string players are not identified.