Mel Tormé swings shubert alley

Name all four set songs

Too Darn Hot, Too Close for Comfort, On the Street Where You Live, Lonely Town

What musicals are the works from

Too Close For Comfort: Mr Wonderful

Too Darn Hot: Kiss Me, Kate

Lonely Town: On the Town

On The Street Where You Live: My Fair Lady

What year was Swings Shubert Alley released?

1960

How long was Tormés career?

60 Years

Which arranger and orchestra worked on Swings Schubert Alley with Tormé?

Marty Paich’s Orchestra:

• Sax - Art Pepper, Bill Perkins, Bill Hood

• French Horn - Vincent DeRosa

• Trumpets - Al Porcino, Stu Williamson

• Trombone - Frank Rosolino

• Tuba - Red Callender

• Piano - Marty Paich

• Bass - Joe Mondragon

• Drums - Mel Lewis, Mel Tormé

Other recordings of Too Darn Hot

Ella Fitzgerald, Sara Gazarek, Erasure 1990, Lorenzo Fuller, Ann Miller

Other Recordings of Too Close For Comfort

Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr, Stan Getz(instrumental), Jamie Cullum

Other Recordings of On The Street Where You Live

Bill Frisell, Bill Shirley, Andy Williams, Vic Damone

Other Recordings of Lonely Town

Frank Sinatra, John Reardon, Shirley Horn+Alan Broadbent

Contrasting features from Too Close for Comfort recordings

Peggy Lee:

• Flute

• different intro words and pronouns

• syncopation at start of verse 1

• very different feel - sinister?

• adds in a section after 3rd verse

Stan

Swings Shubert Alley date

1960

Producer and arranger

Marty Paich

Marty Paich also worked with…

Stan Kenton

The Album is considered an

homage to Broadway

Lonely Town was from the musical…

On the Town (1944)

Lonely Town follows a …. pattern

verse and refrain

Lonely Town refrain follows an … structure

AAB

Bernstein’s version of Lonely Town moved from … for the refrain

Tormé’s version of Lonely Town moves from … for the refrain

E major to E minor, F major to Eb minor

Tormé’s nickname

Velvet Fog

Lonely Town harmony

chord inversions, enharmonic shifts, frequent 7, 9, 11 maj/min chords, aug/dim chords, tritone chord and key shifts

Lonely Town saxophones

carry most of the harmonic work

Lonely Town piano

prominent role at the beginning, interjects a little in the early part of the refrain. Sounds improvisatory, mostly decorative. adds spice to harmony through dissonance mainly in the higher register

Lonely Town drums

very quiet, brushes

Lonely Town bass

steady beat under Tormé’s loose rhythms

Too Close for Comfort was from the musical…

Mr Wonderful

Too Close for Comfort is based on a…

32-bar song form but with a flexible structure to feature the virtuosic musicians

Too Close for Comfort alto sax solo

Art Pepper, virtuosic and colourful, wide array of rhythmic and modal embellishments

Too Close for Comfort begins with what texture

antiphony

Too Close for Comfort contains a … modulation during the link to the sax solo

chromatic mediant (C to Eb)

Too Close for Comfort harmony

chord substitutions, extended primary chords, oscillation between maj/min creates modal flavour

Too Close for Comfort pushing words

such temptation

Too Close for Comfort saxophones

syncopated ‘stab’ chords, dissonant alto decoration at end

On the Street Where You Live was from the musical…

My Fair Lady

On the Street Where You Live trumpet solo

Al Porcino, reminiscent of New Orleans traditional jazz with melodic, bright sound

On the Street Where You Live harmony

starts on a dominant pedal, bass part stepwise, lots of the complex harmony is implied

On the Street Where You Live vocals tormé

extension of vocal range (I won’t care if I), yodel-like decoration in third phrase of bridge (the over-powering feeling), added syncopation, shortening and delaying notes

Saxes (alto, tenor, baritone)

Art Pepper, Bill Perkins, Bill Hood

French Horn

Vincent DeRosa

Trumpets

Al Porcino, Stu Williamson

Trombone

Frank Rosolino

Tuba

Red Callender

Piano

Marty Paich

Bass

Joe Mondragon

Drums

Mel Lewis, Mel Tormé

Too Darn Hot is from…

Kiss Me Kate (1948)

Too Darn Hot structure

originally AABA, frequent extensions, link passages and instrumental solos

Too Darn Hot trombone solo

Frank Rosolino, top of range, long notes before virtuosic solo

Too Darn Hot abrupt modulations

Verse 1 to Verse 2 isEb to E minor, Link to Bridge is E to F major, Bridge to Verse 3 is F to Eb major

Too Darn Hot sax solo

Art Pepper, smears imitate trombone, variety of instrumental effects

Too Darn Hot harmony

lots of extensions and chromaticism, mainly repeating chord patterns of tonic, supertonic, dominant

On The Street Where You Live structure

AABA instrumental BA

Too Darn Hot musical features Torme and another

structure

• Mel: Intro Verse Link Verse Link Bridge Instrumental Verse Bridge Coda (AABAB)

• Ella Fitz Intro Verse Verse bridge-verse instrumental verse Coda (AABA),

Key

• Mel Eb min - major - E min - major - F major - Eb maj - min - maj

• Ella Fitz Cm

Texture

• Mel Paich Orchestra, melody+accomp, trombone solo early on, virtuosic sax solo, drum breaks near end.

• fitz: walking baseline - pizz, melody+accomp, homorhythms accent vocal line trombone and sax, full texture throughout, cross melody in brass end of verse 2, muted trumpet solo verse 4, band ends piece

rhythm

• swung quavers, syncopation evident in bridge and coda, anticipation pushes the swung feeling, syncopated homorhythm in accompanying sax and trumpets

• also swung

harmony

• torme: repeated chord patterns under dissonance

• both utilise dissonance

vocals/melody

• torme: vocal rhythms match accomp, piece ends w/descending chromatic sequence then perf cadence

too close for comfort comparison

Torme + Peggy lee

structure

• torme: inserts a middle section w/ new melody and lyrics

• lee: introduction w/new lyrics “my type, my style” starts with flute

vocal style

• torme: scat singing in the modulating link, wide vocal range, male, legato and warm with contrasting short antiphonal phrases and scat

• lee: female, more skill required in higher pitches, short staccato notes and held longer ones

lyric interpretation

• torme: antiphonal ‘instructional’ lyrics at start and end between band and torme, closed n creates tension on longer words, vibrato on long notes, words broken up ‘tempatation’

• stronger tone on ‘too late’, short and gentle ‘soft and sweet’, long note on ‘please’ changed pronouns to male

texture/instruments

• lee: oboe w/band descending idea during the syncopated start of verse 1, bass and drum kit most prominent, repeated coda ends w/flute and band

lonely town comparison

torme and shirley horn

vocal styles

• torme: long ‘n’mon when & lonely, legato phrasing, vibrato on long notes

• horn: short phrases, spoken rhythms, stronger tone in duet w/sax after instrumental

instrumentation

• torme: starts voice and piano, then band added, muted brass for gentle background, constant baseline section A, brass emphasises end ov A2 and B, Coda jazz duet between piano and bass

• hornstring orchestra accompaniment w/long notes, drum kit and sax join and sax countermelody, tremolo strings, piano jazz trio w/improv for instrumental verse contrasts

• Sinatra: full orchestra basically, harp, strings, horn, woodwind

structure:

• torme: free time intro led by voice, Verse A A B Coda, free time coda

• Sinatra; ‘long instrumental intro New York New York melody’ then New York intro

tonality

• f major start

• Sinatra major

On the Street Where you Live comparison

torme, frisell

instrumentation

• brass, bass, drum kit, male vocals

• e guitar, e bass, violin, female vocal and male BV,

Structure

• modified AABA (added instrumentals) intro verse verse bridge instrumental v1 instrumental v2 bridge extended v3 coda

• frisell: AABA

Tonality

• CMajor

• Minor

Rhythm

• dotted/swung, fast, syncopation, yodel in third phrase of the bridge

• straight, slow

harmony

• torme: less chord changes than original, bass moves stepwise, implied harmony, third phrase in verse is A minor

• frisell: dissonance, close harmony in BV