CD

Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette (Bethlehem). Originally recorded in 1956, this immensely sophisticated collection of pop standards teamed Tormé with a ten-piece jazz ensemble whose arrangements were based on the influential 1949-50 recordings of Miles Davis’ “Birth of the Cool” nonet and played by such heavy West Coast hitters as Bud Shank, Red Mitchell, and Mel Lewis. It established Tormé as a world-class jazz singer at a single stroke and remains wonderfully listenable to this day. The opening track, “Lulu’s Back in Town,” became one of Tormé’s trademark songs, though his sensitively sung version of Harold Arlen’s “When the Sun Comes Out” is, if possible, even better (TT).