2 of 2 recommend this SA-CD
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Label:
   Audio Fidelity - http://www.audiofidelity.net/
Serial:
   AFZ002
Title:
   Mel Torme: The London Sessions
Description:
   "The London Sessions"

Mel Torme
Phil Woods
Barry Miles
Vic Juris
Gordon Beck
London Symphony Orchestra
Christopher Gunning (conductor)
Details:
   1. Send In The Clowns (Stephen Sondheim)
2. New York State Of Mind (Billy Joel)
3. All In Love Is Fair (Stevie Wonder)
4. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan McColl)
5. Stars (Janis Ian)
6. Ordinary Fool (Paul Williams)
7. When The World Was Young (Mercer/Philippe-Gerard), Yesterday When I Was Young (Aznavour-Kretzmer)
8. Bye Bye Blackbird (Mort Dixon-Ray Henderson)
Genre:
   Vocal
Content:
   Stereo
Media:
   Hybrid
Recording type:
  
Recording info:
   Recorded at Olympic Sound, Barnes, England - June 1977

Remastering: Steve Hoffman
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Related titles: 2
 
Reviews: 1
Review by JW April 13, 2003 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
Performance:  Sonics:
What a great disc! Sound, performance, hell even the liner notes are great. If you like Mel Tormé you may have this on vinyl as it was released in 1977 on the Gryphon label as "Tormé, A New Album". The booklet provides some interesting background detail for us audiophiles.

The flipside of that comment being that the infomation is probably completely pointless for anyone 'on the outside'. Let me show you what I mean; This SACD was mastered by Steve Hoffman (uh-huh); WAVAC amps were used (sooo, that means exactly what?); as were Symposium vibration control devices (geez, these guys must have been in bad shape!); and speakers from Meadowlark (Speakers??? MT is a singer. Hope I got the right disc). And they also used Kevin Gray's AcousTech mastering facilities in CA (now why on earth would this be important?) :-)

The sound is rich, full, big. What I like about Mel Tormé, amongst other things, is that he tends to use fairly contemporary composers in his repertoire, outside the realm of Jazz. Once I saw him live in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam - I subscribed to a series of midnight jazz concerts (starting at 12pm). This must have been 15 years ago but I clearly remember him singing Donald Fagen stuff. On this disc he performs Billy Joel (the excellent song 'New York State Of Mind'), Stevie Wonder, Charles Aznavour and Janis Ian tunes. His rearranged 'Send In The Clowns' is very good I think, giving a big band swing to this famous ballad whilst at the same time keeping the feeling alive that has always permeated this song.

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