Search - Mel Torme :: Live with the Mel-Tones, Vol. 1

Geometric Blues

09/25/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There are two great songs on this CD. "Geometric Blues" and (to a lesser extent) "The French Lesson". Both of them have similar a similar motif - the swinging professor hips his student to the fundamentals of the subject in a very entertaining way. "Geometric Blues" is simply incredible, the Pythagorean theorem is stated and then PROVED in the context of modern jazz/bebop! The lyrics go by very quickly, but I've had math students dissect the lyrics and they agree, the theorem is actually proved in the hippest way you could ever imagine. This one song is worth the price of admission if you're at all intrigued by this concept. "The French Lesson" is a little more accessible, both in terms of lyric content and in terms of not quite so boppish an arrangement. Also in this song Torme is the student, not the professor.The rest of the CD is kind of sappy. These songs were intended for the general (read WHITE) radio audience, not jazz fans. But they're certainly a lot hipper than most radio programs of that day."