Search - Mel Torme :: Live at the Playboy Jazz Festival

Five stars for Torme, two stars for the recording.

Mary Whipple | New England | 10/19/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Singing some of the most famous songs of Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller, Torme records this album live at the 1993 Playboy Jazz Festival, his last appearance ever at that venue. It is, perhaps, significant that this album was not released until 2002, three years after Torme's death, since it is not one of which Torme would have been proud. Though the songs are classics, and Torme's voice is as good as ever in the high range, the sound quality of the album is a huge disappointment. Lovers of Torme (who was sixty-eight when he recorded the album), will still admire his voice, his unique interpretations, and his energy, pacing, and timing, but the album suffers technical problems, not all of which are the result of its being a live performance.



The opening track, "Opus 1," is a wonderful, uptempo swing song, done with the full Ray Anthony band, and it could have been a standout song, but Torme sounds as if he is standing too far away from the microphone, a problem that was not fixed when the CD was readied for release. My favorite song on the album, and one of Torme's best, is a lovely medley of "I Had the Craziest Dream" and "Darn That Dream," sung as a soft, moody ballad with muted trumpet and piano accompaniment, but there is noticeable, inappropriate laughter in the foreground from people in the audience, both at the beginning and at the end of the track, completely spoiling the mood. The Duke Ellington tune "I'm Gonna Go Fishing," a tricky tune for any artist, is done with full band, but the band here sounds tinny--lacking in depth--and this prevents Torme from achieving the intimacy for which he is so highly celebrated on his good recordings.



The track with the fewest technical problems is another Ellington song, "It Don't Mean a Thing," the wildest swing on the album, with a fantastic piano solo by John Colianni, and with bass (John Leitham), drums (Donny Osborne), and piano as the primary accompaniment. Torme is at his classic best here, singing scat for almost the entire track. The grand finale is a 15-minute medley of six Benny Goodman songs, featuring the entire Ray Anthony band and ending with "Sing, Sing, Sing." The drum solo is may be by Torme (since he usually did do the drum solos whenever he did this song), but the liner notes do not say so. A scant 33:45 long, this album is for the dedicated Torme lover who is able to excuse the sound quality. Mary Whipple

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