Search - Mel Torme, Carmen McRae :: Jazz Casual: A Pair of Singers

What is jazz singing, anyway?

Joe Mama | marin county CA | 04/11/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm too young to remember the TV show JAZZ CASUAL, but I'm a huge fan of Mel Tormé's 50s and 60s records. That said, I bought this CD without hearing it previously. Although the sound quality is weak, Mel Tormé is on the money, and celebrated Jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason (whom both Tormé and McRae genuinely seemed to like) asks all the right questions.Vocally, Tormé was arguably at his best in those days. The opening number is an infectious and catchy tune called "I've Got a World that Swings." I'm fairly well-versed on Tormé's records from this period, and I don't think this song appears on any of his other albums. Other gems include an incredible version of "When Sunny Gets Blue" and a beautiful rendering of Jobim's "Quiet Nights (of Quiet Stars) on which Tormé plays Ukelele.If you're a real die-hard, liner-note reading music fan, you'll love the interviews between songs. After the first song, Gleason cuts right to the chase and asks Tormé if he considers himself a jazz singer. Tormé, perhaps concerned about what other jazz artists might think, tentatively accepts the title. Later, Gleason asks Tormé to define jazz singing as opposed to good pop singing. This is where it really gets interesting. As masterful and facile as Tormé was with his voice--and his words--he really struggles to define the expression. Later, he is wonderfully candid in expressing who of his contemporaries in the business he feels qualify as bona-fide jazz singers.As for Carmen McRae, I was unfamiliar with her music before hearing this disc (although she was one of the few singers cited by Tormé as a legitimate jazz singer!). I personally don't like her voice as much as Mel Tormé's, but she was obviously the real deal. As for her interviews, it's fascinating to compare her responses to the same questions with Tormé's."

Collector's dream!

E. Macomber | New Bern, NC United States | 08/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ralph Gleason has allowed to much politics into his epistles and not enough history of jazz lately. Sad, this is a collectors's dream. Two of the greats Torme' and McCrea while not actually together, are quite together musically. They approach the songs quite differently from their later, more engineered and "choreogrpahed" stuff. Listen to a copy of the original Rhapsody in Blue compared to what Telarc did to it and you'll know what I mean. "We've Got A World That Swings" is perhaps my most favorite. This tune came from a Jerry Lewis movie called the "Nutty Professor." I gotta say the best recorded version I have of this tune is the 4 Freshmen from a Liberty disc they made in the early 60's. But what I can tell you, it is almost extinct,therfore quite valuable to a collector of 20th Century jazz. One lsten to Torme' and you'll want this archival disc..and it probably won't be there. Sad!"