At the Crescendo

Discography Browser

  • Mel Tormé Sings His Own California Suite
  • Live at the Crescendo
  • It's a Blue World
  • Sings Fred Astaire
  • Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-tette
  • At the Crescendo
  • Prelude to a Kiss
  • Songs for Any Taste
  • Mel Tormé's California Suite [Bethlehem]
  • Tormé
  • Olé Tormé
  • Back in Town
  • Swings Shubert Alley
  • Swingin' on the Moon
  • Broadway, Right Now!
  • My Kind of Music
  • I Dig the Duke! I Dig the Count!
  • The Duke Ellington and Count Basie Songbooks
  • Comin' Home Baby!
  • Sings Sunday in New York and Other Songs About New York
  • That's All
  • Right Now!
  • A Time for Us (Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet)
  • Mel Torme At The Red Hill/Live At The Maisonette
  • The London Sessions
  • Together Again: For the First Time
  • Encore at Marty's, New York
  • An Evening With George Shearing & Mel Torme
  • Top Drawer
  • An Evening at Charlie's
  • An Elegant Evening
  • Mel Tormé, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass
  • Reunion
  • In Concert Tokyo
  • A Vintage Year
  • Night at the Concord Pavilion
  • Fujitsu-Concord Festival (1990)
  • Mel and George "Do" World War II
  • Nothing Without You
  • Christmas Songs
  • Sing, Sing, Sing: Live at the Fujitsu Festival 1992
  • The Great American Songbook: Live at Michael's Pub
  • A Tribute to Bing Crosby
  • Velvet & Brass
  • A&E Presents an Evening With Mel Tormé: Live From the Disney Institute
  • In New York
  • Live at the Playboy Jazz Festival
  • The Classic Concert Live
  • Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette [Blue Note Japan]

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Release Date

February 22, 1957

Duration

35:50

Genre

Styles

Recording Date

May, 1956

Recording Location

  • Hollywood, CA
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Album Moods

Mel Tormé

At the Crescendo

  • AllMusic Rating
    8
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AllMusic Review by

More than two years after recording his first-ever concert LP, Live at the Crescendo for Coral, Mel Tormé returned to the Los Angeles nightclub for the Bethlehem release At the Crescendo, cut February 22, 1957. Backed by a small combo comprised of pianist/arranger Marty Paich, trumpeter Don Fagerquist, vibraphonist Larry Bunker, bassist Max Bennett, and drummer Mel Lewis, Tormé approaches familiar material like "One for My Baby," "It's Only a Paper Moon," and "I'm Beginning to See the Light" with a matchless combination of sensitivity and sass -- as always, Paich's nimble arrangements inspire Tormé's most adventurous vocals, and the sheer imagination and soulfulness on display throughout the set laid to rest any lingering question of whether he was a jazz artist or merely an easy listening balladeer.

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time
1
Harold Arlen / E.Y. "Yip" Harburg / Billy Rose
Mel Tormé
3:22
2
Cole Porter
Mel Tormé
3:55
3
Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer
Mel Tormé
4:47
4
Mel Tormé
2:32
5
Eric Maschwitz / Manning Sherwin
Mel Tormé
2:53
6
Joseph Kosma / Johnny Mercer / Jacques Prévert
Mel Tormé
1:32
7
Cole Porter
Mel Tormé
2:29
8
Ralph Blane / Hugh Martin
Mel Tormé
2:58
9
Oscar Hammerstein II / Sigmund Romberg
Mel Tormé
2:43
10
Irving Berlin
Mel Tormé
2:50
11
Sammy Cahn / James Van Heusen
Mel Tormé
3:26
12
Duke Ellington / Don George / Johnny Hodges / Harry James
Mel Tormé
2:23
blue highlight denotes track pick