This is a nice looking Verve LP with relatively quiet vinyl and surprisingly good sound. Natural, smooth and sweet, I doubt there are copies out there that sound much better. The music itself is great fun. Hearing Mel sing with the female vocalists is really a treat.
This is an Older Review.
Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into a fine art.
We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For out Hot Stamper listings, the Sonic Grades and Vinyl Playgrades are listed separately.)
We were often wrong back in those days, something we have no reason to hide. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.
Currently, 99% (or more!) of the records we sell are cleaned, then auditioned under rigorously controlled conditions, up against a number of other pressings. We award them sonic grades, and then condition check them for surface noise.
As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which is why we currently have a highly trained staff of about ten. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us could ever come along to do the kind of work we do.
The term “Hot Stampers” gets thrown around a lot these days, but to us it means only one thing: a record that has been through the shootout process and found to be of exceptionally high quality.
The result of our labor is the hundreds of titles seen here, every one of which is unique and guaranteed to be the best sounding copy of the album you have ever heard or you get your money back.
Further Reading
TRACK LISTING
Makin’ Whoopee
Baubles, Bangles and Beads
I’ve Never Been In Love Before
Truckin’
A Bunch of the Blues: Keester Parade/TNT/Tiny’s Blues
It Happened in Monterey
I Hadn’t Anyone ‘Til You
A Smooth One
Don’t Dream of Anybody but Me
Some Like It Hot
Hit the Road to Dreamland
AMG 4 1/2 Star Rave Review
Mel Tormé had artistic — if not commercial — success with his vocal group the Mel-Tones in the mid-’40s. After its breakup in 1946, when Tormé was persuaded to go solo, the Mel-Tones were occasionally regrouped by Tormé for special projects. These 1959 dates, which have been reissued in full on a Verve CD, were the group’s final recordings, and they make for an interesting comparison with their earlier sessions. In addition to remakes of their two hits, “What Is This Thing Called Love” and “It Happened in Monterey,” the arrangements (mostly by Marty Paich) have many quotes from jazz songs and are heavily influenced by Count Basie’s Orchestra of the 1950s. The Mel-Tones, which at the time also included Sue Allen, Ginny O’Connor, Bernie Parke and Tom Kenny, swing throughout and sing attractive harmonies without really improvising. However, the concise solos of Art Pepper on both alto and tenor and trumpeter Jack Sheldon work well with the singers, making this a recommended set to fans of jazz vocal groups, of which the relatively short-lived Mel-Tones ranked near the top