Though the nominal concept for
Mel Tormé's Swings Shubert Alley is Broadway standards, this last moment of pure
Tormé brilliance moves much too fast and hard for the concept to be anything but pure swing. Of course it starts out with a bang with the punchy "Too Close for Comfort."
Tormé sounds like he's racing the band to the finish of the song on this one (and a few others, like "Too Darn Hot" and "Surrey with the Fringe on Top"), on the latter he repeats the title over and over again with that exuberant voice. As with his other classic swing albums,
Tormé does insert a few slower songs; here, "Once in Love with Amy," "A Sleepin' Bee" and "Old Devil Moon" are downtempo, with a smile. The overall mood, however, is unrestrained enthusiasm, and it makes for an excellent record.