Customer Reviews

Velvet & Brass

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd is one that gets better with age. Each time I hear it I like it more. The Kern & Hammerstein song, Nobody Else But Me, desrves to lead the disc. It's that great! I just wish a great singer would have done a Kern/Hammerstein Songbook. All the songs are fabulous even the dated Swing Shift. There are times when Mel's sessions with a band didn't work but this time it does. A REAL GEM! A gem that has songs that deserve to heard because they weren't overdone.

Mel Torme's collaboration with Rob McConnell et al is terrific. I've listened to a great deal of Mel Torme' over the past 17 years (even had the opportunity to see him live in ' 87), and I personally love his 'older' voice the best. Songs like 'Love Walked In,' 'I Get A Kick Out Of You,' and 'Liza' showcase his talent. Rob McConnell's Boss Brass are really kickin' it too! Enjoy this one while you're hanging around the house.

Mel Torme's voice ages very well, he learns to modify his voice so that instead of pretending to be young, he ages the song, something which Tony Bennett learned from Mel Torme. Rob McConell's Boss Brass plays a solid and loud backbeat which taps the toe!

Well, I can't say I don't like this CD; I can't say it's not good, well sung and well played... However, compared to Torme's high points, for instance The Great American Songbook: Live at Michael's Pub , also a big band album, it's a notch below.
It's lovely, intelligent, romantic, but I think that The Boss Brass is a bit mechanical in its swinging, for instance when compared to the orchestra at the The Great American Songbook occasion. So, if you like classical American singing (Sinatra, Bennett...), this IS an album for you, if you're a strictly jazz fan, maybe you should think twice.

But, at his best, Mel is great both for fans of classical American singing and for the jazz fans.