Not exactly a youngster at age 37, Mel Tormé had long established himself as a crooner and scat-singer extraordinaire by 1962. Nonetheless, Atlantic Records sought to freshen Tormé’s sound — and entice a younger audience — with the LP Comin’ Home Baby, the title song of which had a cool R&B groove, a taut Claus
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The album hardly panders to teeny-boppers, though. With Shorty Rogers’ arrangements and stellar musicianship from A-list session men, the Velvet Fog dives into a program that includes then-current jazz staples such as Bobby Timmons’ “Dat Dere” and “Moanin’” and Randy Weston’s “Hi Fly,” investing not just vocal prowess but genuine feeling into lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr. (the former) and Jon Hendricks (the latter two). And Tormé’s gorgeous horn-like phrasing wends through standout readings of Benny Golson’s “Whisper Not” and Bronislau Kaper’s “On Green Dolphin Street.”
Over the years, Tormé would continue to connect with new generations, as he had fun with his image on the sitcom Night Court and in a 1990s TV ad campaign for Mountain Dew. More recently the singer, who died in 1999, could be heard on Nespresso commercials, singing “Comin’ Home Baby.” —BW