VALLEY WEEKEND : No Slowing Down the Tempo for Mel Torme : The jazz singer is busier than ever--and his talent is so far-reaching that he even has fans in the grunge generation.

A very familiar voice, equal part velvet and fine sandpaper, came on the phone one morning last week, with the enthusiasm of a veteran who seems to be both a night person and a morning person. When asked how he is, Mel Torme rebounds, without hesitation: “Never better.”

Torme’s career, of late, bears him out. Sure, Torme has long won respect from jazz aficionados for his seamless, swinging interpretations of standards, as heard on the bold new Concord album “Velvet and Brass” with Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass. He’ll be at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza on Friday, backed by his trio.

But these days it’s a new, ‘90s kind of ballgame for the 70-year-old singer, who has been winning the hearts of the grunge generation with appearances on MTV, in addition to his cameos on television series, talk shows and commercials. He’s everywhere.

But don’t write Torme off as a camp icon. Like Tony Bennett, another singer recently popularized with listeners young enough to be his grandchildren, Torme is an American musical treasure.

Add the talents as a songwriter (he wrote “Christmas Song” 50 years ago this year), arranger, author, actor and drummer--a fine one at that. This guy gets around, and is getting around even more these days.

*

Your new album, “Velvet and Brass,” is doing brisk business. Is that partly attributable to your widened audience base?

Yeah. Now I’ve done MTV--”The Beach House” here in Malibu. I did MTV in New York.

I’ll tell you a story. I played Seattle about six weeks ago. My manager told me, “Mel, this is in a huge arena, and I’ve got to level with you now. You’re the only jazz artist on the bill. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll show, with the Ramones, with Mudhoney. . . .” I said, “Oh my God. I’m going to walk into your office with a .45 automatic and blow your brains out if you put me into this thing.” He said, “Let’s just try it.”

It’s the best choice I ever made. I went out on the stage in front of 5,000 kids who stood in front of me--they were just standing--and then 50,000 people in the side bleachers. I sang--doing my repertoire, by the way. I didn’t pander to rock ‘n’ roll or anything like that. It was the single greatest reception I have ever gotten in my life, which engendered six curtain calls and two encores.

*

When you were coming up with the plan for this new album, did you set out to make a statement, to present a sampler of American songs?

This album was originally called “Mel Torme Sings the Great Composers,” which we changed. There’s a song by Gershwin, by Jerome Kern, by Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. We very carefully chose one song from every one of the so-called great composers.

*

You work between pop and jazz. How do you view the distinctions between the two?

I think that all jazz singers are basically pop singers. . . . I’m categorized as a jazz singer. That’s fine, because I am. But the fact of the matter is that I’m also deeply into the pop scene. I don’t mean current pop, what’s going on now with pop singers of today. But certainly the pop song of yesterday is something that I’m very involved with.

In my case, I do sing a lot of scat. Other than Ella Fitzgerald, God bless her, who else sings scat? There are a few singers around who do it, but generally speaking it’s a cloistered kind of endeavor.

Consequently, I’m probably looked upon as more of a jazz singer than as a pop singer. But I look upon myself as a jazz-pop singer.

*

Are there any songwriters working out there now who you admire?

The one guy who knocks me out is Donald Fagen, a very original kind of songwriter. He writes tunes that are unusual, without standard subject matter. For example, “Goodbye Look” is about a guy who goes to, I think, Cuba or some South American country, gets hassled and leaves. I recorded that song on one of my albums with Marty Paich.

I found it fascinating. It’s not love, June-moon-spoon kind of stuff, you know.

*

Do you feel a kind of cultural responsibility, as a torch-bearer for this body of classic American standard songs?

One question that constantly pops up is, “Mel, who’s around to take your place? Who do you know?” The truth of the matter is, I don’t know anybody. That’s sad, because I’m sure there are a lot of young people out there who are capable of singing the great standards and the popular songs, but who unfortunately go for the gold. And the gold lies in rock ‘n’ roll. I admit that.

*

Are there other areas you’d like to tackle?

I’ve done movies, television, radio, live performances, you name it. But I’ve never done Broadway, and a lot of people are on my tail now to try and do a one-man show. I’m giving it semi-serious thought. I say semi-serious because I have such a huge repertoire of songs--I probably know 4,000 songs. As a matter of consequence, I think, “Jeez, I’d have to learn all this stuff to do on Broadway.” It becomes daunting.

Sinatra, for instance--Sinatra goes out on the stage and reads TelePrompTers and cue cards. . . . My feeling is, singers are vastly overpaid. I’m one of them. Consequently, if you can’t bring to the audience the heartfelt emotion of knowing the words to these songs and singing them with no cue cards and TelePrompTers, get the hell out of the business. I mean it.

What I’m saying is that I have such a storehouse in my head of tunes, do I really want to place myself in the unenviable position of learning all kinds of new material and dialogue and everything? I’m not saying no, but at this moment, I’m not saying yes, either.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Mel Torme.

* WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday.

* WHERE: Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

* HOW MUCH: $25-$45.

* FYI: 449-ARTS.