California Suite

Mel Torme | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 2, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00002MZ3K
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,787 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Territory (The Soil Was God)

2. We Think the West Coast Is the Best

3. La Jolla

4. Coney Island

5. Atlantic City Boardwalk

6. They Go to San Diego

7. San Fernando Valley

8. Got the Date on the Golden Gate

9. L.A.

10. Six O'Clock (It's Time to Leave the Set)

11. Poor Little Extra Girl

12. West Coast Is the Best Coast (Reprise)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Appreciated, but not Appealing, December 27, 2000

By 

William Faust (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: California Suite (Audio CD)

First of all, let me say that I love Mel Torme. Especially when it comes to his 1950's collaborations with arranger Marty Paich (Swings the Shubert Alley, Sings Fred Astair, etc.). And indeed, this is one of those collaborations. But that's where the similarity ends. To me, Mel is a jazz singer...and one of the best. Sure, he co-wrote The Christmas Song and a few other standards. But while I appreciate what he was trying to do here, I just don't get it. This 40 minute piece, described by Mel as a "lyrical and musical narrative dedicated to the Golden State" is just out of character. It's part Broadway score, part Vaudeville act, part jazz opera? I'm just not sure but I didn't like it at all. The two stars are for Mel's performance (strong as always) and that of his first rate west coast back up musicians like Paich, Don Fagerquist, Dave Pell et al. If you're looking for more swinging Mel from the 50's, don't look here.