Swings Shubert Alley
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 classicSwings 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