Mel Torme & George Shearing "A Vintage Year"

[polkatese]

Anyone into Mel Torme and Shearing should check out this album. Great live recording and it's even better on SACD multi-channels.

The sound selections are great, Torme is such a great artist, and I think to some degree is even better than Tony Bennett.

Highly recommended.

[George Grand]

Mel Torme, The Velvet Fog.

I saw him on a TV special once. He was behind a set of drums. There were other drummers onstage behind other sets of drums at the same time. Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Lionel Hampton. I forget what the tribute was, but that's quite a compliment to Torme's skills.

When it was Buddy's turn to do a little thing after the others, you could unmistakeably read Torme's lips as he leaned over and said to Krupa, "He's a f*cking machine."


Shearing has a million great albums. A tough one to find is Amigos. There's a percussion break in the middle of Do You Know The Way To San Jose that smokes. Mid 70's release. I lost it somewhere along the way.

[polkatese]

Thanks for those tidbits George. I didn't get a chance to see him doing live, so this album gave me the ambiance of a great performance and performer. I have several of his performances with the Boss Brass. Those Canucks were a great complement to his.

Back when I still play my tables, this album (below) has always sounded so good. The CD version that I bought recently has less quality than the LP.

Btw, every Christmas when I played "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", I remembered Mel. What a guy. It has been 10 years since his passing. what a performer.