Mel Torme, Comin' Home Baby

[sgcim]

18 hours ago, JSngry said:

Yeah, but all bets of accuracy are off when sobriety is gone.

As to why Buddy probably didn't like Torm, I would wager lunch that it had something to do with Torm's prissiness of self-satisfaction about everything he touched. Skills is one thing, and those aren't in question, but there's nobody in the "jazz" world who exudes such a total air of a smug EXPECTING you to be IMPRESSED by EVERYTHING as Mel Torm, not even Keith Jarrett, who will at least on occasion play with at least some projection of at least some humility.

So...does Buddy Rich seem like the type of guy who would respond well to you expecting him to be impressed by you? LOL!!!! 

Yeah, I thank God that I never worked for either one of them, unlike the trail of bass players who were fired on the stand-in the middle of a Buddy gig!

7 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Personality disorders tend to get worse with time, not better. 

That doesn't explain the fact that my ex GF with BPD is still alive. She flirted with death every day of her life!

[JSngry]

I knew one of the ones that actually had a good time playing with Buddy, a guy named Anthony Brock. He said he asked Buddy before his first night where he wanted the best and Buddy told him to just hit it square on, no pushing, no pulling, just dead on it.

That's exactly what he gave him and there were no problems! 

[sgcim]

17 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

Mel's story about Buddy hitting him in the face with a pie right after he was introduced at the start of a set was startling. He couldn't take the stage, his tuxedo was ruined and it was embarrassing. I doubt anyone in Rich's band found it funny. Torme had some issues with arrogance, but Rich easily had him beat in that department.

That was nothing compared to Buddy's plan at Buddy's Place, to have a detective friend of his pretend to arrest Mel, cuff him, and then throw him in the trunk of a police car, and drive around like a maniac for 45 minutes, with Mel rolling around in the trunk!

The detective had some semblance of a conscience, and warned Mel to leave the club before Buddy put the plan into action.

And then there was the time that Mel called him from a jazz festival he was headlining at, just to say hello, and Buddy said things so horrible that Mel never spoke to him again. My theory was that Buddy was so envious of Mel having a great gig at a festival, and Buddy not having said gig, that Buddy just went off the rails.

We'll never know what Buddy said to him, but it hurt Mel like nothing else in his life.

15 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I knew one of the ones that actually had a good time playing with Buddy, a guy named Anthony Brock. He said he asked Buddy before his first night where he wanted the best and Buddy told him to just hit it square on, no pushing, no pulling, just dead on it.

That's exactly what he gave him and there were no problems! 

Yeah, I know a guy who is so proud of the fact that HE quit Buddy, against Buddy's wishes, he tells me the story every time I talk with him. He met Buddy after that, and Buddy just ignored him.

[Ken Dryden]

We had a pianist here in town who toured with Buddy Rich for awhile and recalled some of his tirades on the band bus, tapes of which have long circulated.

[Teasing the Korean]

The Mel Torme Millennium Collection, a CD we inherited from Ms. TTK's Dad, includes a pic of Mel listening to the Teddy Charles Tentet LP. 

[sgcim]

On 6/24/2023 at 2:55 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

The Mel Torme Millennium Collection, a CD we inherited from Ms. TTK's Dad, includes a pic of Mel listening to the Teddy Charles Tentet LP. 

You can't get much hipper than that!

Edited June 26, 2023 by sgcim

[JSngry]

Sure you can. 

[mikeweil]

Yes, but maybe Mel could not?

On 6/22/2023 at 5:17 PM, mikeweil said:

Listening to this right now. Nice collection of mostly rare stuff and a good essay by Will Friedwald. He tells that the Ogerman arrangement was inspired by a demo Bob Dorough cut that never saw a release.

Edited June 25, 2023 by mikeweil