Listening to Torme

Highlights of his recording career.

“The Mel Torme Collection” (Rhino). Includes some of Torme’s early recordings with his Mel-Tones, as well as his mid-1950s work with the Marty Paich Dek-tette.

“The Torme Touch” and “Mel Torme Sings Fred Astaire” (Bethlehem). Both with the Paich Dek-tette, a group that blended perfectly with Torme’s style of the mid-’50s. In the latter album, Torme makes a smooth connection with Astaire’s subtle but inherent sense of swing.

“An Evening at Charlie’s” and “An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torme” (Concord). In these first albums with Shearing, Torme found a kindred spirit, and their subsequent work together, live and in the studio, became one of the great jazz partnerships.

“Mel Torme, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass” and “Velvet and Brass” (Concord). The combination of McConnell’s charts and the spirited sound of the Boss Brass was perfect for Torme, who took advantage of the opportunities to show that he was as effective in a big-band setting as he was working with Shearing.

“An Evening With Mel Torme” (Concord). At the moment, this set of performances, recorded live for a television special, represents Torme’s last recording before his stroke in August 1996. But he was working on an Ella Fitzgerald tribute at the time, and it remains to be seen how much of that project will be made available.