Description:
Swingin' on the Moon marks a bridge between Mel Torme's excellent jazzy outings of the 1950s and the generally pop oriented, novelty recordings of the '60s. Recorded over three days in August 1960, the album contains few standards, substituting instead lesser numbers which all contain the word "moon" in the title including Tormé's own title song, which opens the set. Though he is in fine voice and the arrangements by Russ Garcia are solid, Tormé just can't come to grips with the lesser material, and the album is quite forgettable. It was released on Verve, which made it a jazz LP in theory, but Swingin' on the Moon can be consigned to the section of pop history which includes novelty "theme" albums arranged around a usually simple subject. |