''Mel Tormé's California Suite'' is a 1957

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roa ...

, of his California suite. Tormé first wrote the suite as a twenty-minute piece in 1949, arranged by Neal Hefti and

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

, with

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

providing vocals. It was expanded to this LP length version in 1957. The suite was later recorded by Sammy Davis Jr.

Track listing

''All music and lyrics written by

, except "San Fernando Valley" by Tormé and Gordon Jenkins.'' # "The Territory (The Soil Was Good)" – 2:57 # "We Think the West Coast Is the Best" – 1:42 # "La Jolla" – 3:04 # "Coney Island" – 2:45 # "Atlantic City Boardwalk" – 2:33 # "They Go to San Diego" – 3:53 # "San Fernando Valley" – 5:04 # "Got the Date on the Golden Gate" – 4:21 # "L.A." – 1:48 # "Six O'Clock (It's Time to Leave the Set)" – 0:55 # "Nothing to Do (But Shed a Tear)" – 0:22 # "Poor Little Extra Girl" – 3:52 # "West Coast Is the Best Coast (Reprise)" – 3:06

Personnel

Performance

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Marty Paich -

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, conductor * Pete Candoli - trumpet *

Don Fagerquist Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. Career Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including Ma ...

- trumpet * Bob Enevoldson - trombone * Dave Pell - tenor sax *

Barney Kessel Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" gu ...

- guitar * Max Bennett - bass * Mel Lewis - drums * Alvin Stoller - drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mel Torme's California Suite 1957 albums Suites (music) Mel Tormé albums Albums arranged by Marty Paich Bethlehem Records albums Albums conducted by Marty Paich