“The Velvet Fog” was a household name back in the day. Mel Torme, born in Chicago on this day in 1925, was “a supreme vocal technician whose style encompassed everything from intimate pop crooning to jet-propelled scat improvisations,” the New York Times said in reporting his death in 1999. “Mr. Torme was rivaled in virtuosity only by Ella Fitzgerald, who moved between the worlds of pop and jazz with a similar ease.” Here’s a video of Mel and Ella busting out an inspired scat duet, plus a high-energy Mel and Buddy Rich clip from a 1979 performance on “The Merv Griffin Show.”
