"A singer has to work doubly hard to emit those random notes in scat singing with perfect intonation. Well, I should say all singers except Ella Fitzgerald. Her notes float out in perfect pitch, effortless and, most important of all, swinging." - Mel Torme
I beg to disagree with Mel. While Ella for me is the true queen of jazz singing, I'm not impressed with her scat solos on the whole - and I have listened (on Spotify and YT) to almost everything she and Mel recorded. Actually, I consider Mel a better, cleaner, and more creative scat singer. His advantage was that he played the piano and drums expertly. A talented vocalist with that background and superior voice control has a better chance of sounding impeccable when scatting than someone who is not an instrumentalist at all.
@@deanronson6331then you have not listened enough. Ella is far more versatile and accurate in her syllables and pitch though Mel is pretty much neck to neck with her. Don’t diss Ella cause Mel’s tone pitch phrasing were all borrowed and inspired by Ella’s style. Mel has always said that Ella is his biggest and I mean biggest musical influence , hence the similarities in their techniques and phrasing. She was the mentor and not the student.
@@arlenecerf8833 The versatility of syllables? What a bogus, made-up concept, probably by you. Whoever pays attention to that?! Pitch? Ella's out of tune half the time when scatting because scatting in tune is so much more difficult than singing. Neither of those matter because the main thing is how tonally impeccable and creative a scatter is in his/her improvisation. I'll say it again: Mel was a major jazz singer and instrumentalist, which gave him quite an improv and intonation edge over Ella, who wasn't a pro player. Most listeners, like yourself, don't have enough of a sharp ear to catch all the intonation issues in Ella's singing. They are fooled by her vocal pyrotechnics, the intonation accuracy be damned. Are you sure you studied jazz scatting instead of another meaning that the word "scat" has?
@@deanronson6331 I’m a major in musical theatre and have studied voice hence I am more than capable to share my two cents. You sound like a miserable hater who for no reason makes mountains out of mole hills and conjure issues for no reason at all. Your argument are baseless and feeble. Mel himself ,who is 8 years younger than Ella, has profusely and relentlessly praised Ella throughout his career and cited her as the Best singer and vocal musician of their generation. She was Mel’s biggest musical influence and without her vocal presence , technique and legacy there would be no Mel Torme. He based his whole musical career on Ella hence he is regarded as the “Male Ella Fitzgerald” same as John Hendricks.
@@deanronson6331 Then why is it that Ella is regarded as having absolute pitch/relative pitch . So much so that her pianist use her as a reference during tuning/rehearsals.
Mel Torme, was one of the only White Male Jazz SIngers that could keep up with the Black Jazz Singers, especially when it came to scatting! the boy was on point!
@cammicty I really feel that Tormé was Ella's musical son---no other jazz singer, white or black, male or female, came nearly so close to Ella's scat competence and freedom as Mel. He modeled his scatting off of hers (and she was truly the beacon). Like Ella, he had an incredibly beautiful voice for ballads, but there was also the strong inclination to improv that made him so dynamic. Check out their performance at the 1976 Grammy awards. All scat and it was phenomenal.
While I am not the one who clicked on the 'Dislike,' I believe that there is only one thing about this video that would make it get a dislike: it's too short! I want to hear more from these two! More, please!
Mel Torme was awesome! He wrote some of the best classics of all time. One of the most prolific songers ever! One of the best songs that has been covered by many is of course, "The Christmas Song." That's right, Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....You know the rest.
Jazz 'Scat' was born in New Orleans. Louis Armstrong was the first person to introduce it to popular music and recorded music. The Ella perfomance you were refering to was a live rendition of 'Mack The Knife' during one of her European concert dates (I think it was in Berlin), for which she won a Grammy.
i wish i had his voice!!!damn he is great...he is not as great as Ella, but he is great! The fact is that he was a white boy, so he could do TOP 40, and his voice was perfect for top 40 if he wanted, but was also great for more particular music like jazz!!!!i mean, he sang with judy garland and with ella!!!
I have posted the full audio of this. This clip is from the Documentary "Something to Live for" The American Masters series biography of Ella Fitzgerald on PBS.
cont, we are known for so many genres of music that were born from African Black folks, etc,! It doesn't need to be discussed, because it's a fact. I have traveled worldwide and have seen how the influence of African people (Black Folks) in their music, dance, etc, rules! From the Samba, to Salsa, to Jazz, Blues, the list goes on! It's not even up for discussion, it's a fact! cont,
Mel was amazing, and yes one of the best White Scatters anywhere, if not the best, and better than many Black Scat singers, but not the best! First of Scat is created by the Black Voice, with African influence, etc, so unfortunately this in itself takes Mel down a notch. Scat was only something Blacks did and created, however many Whites spent countless hours in Black Clubs in the past learning. He was never on Al Jerreau's level, of scatting of many others I know of! But he was amazing.
Anyone not familiar with Mel's work, go out and get any of his C.D.s. You can't go wrong. I adore his album of moon songs, every bit as wonderful as Sinatra's and totally different.
Guess what...the ability to "scat" comes from an individual who along with having a feel for a melodic and rhythmic beat, that if one has the talent to do so, would do it almost automatically. Some of what everyone is saying is true, but there's a whole historical and psycological thing that even the most learned professionals don't even realize about the subject. Stop with the power struggle. Some caucasians saying; "we can do that too", some African Americans saying we're better.
@bolder2009 talk about stating the obvious....=) I love being here with other people who love these two!!!.. young mel and ella have the chops that every jazz singer wishes they had. (at least from where I'm standin!) don't forget joe williams, johnny hartman, Anita oday, chet baker, tony bennett and Dino. =)
how was ella ever in trouble here? she lead the chase, how did she have to hold her own? she was comfortable giving him some exercises, you can see he knew his place and was happy to grow and learn this has nothing to do with skin but skill
cont, I have traveled from one end of Africa to the other, as well as well other countries, (lol not going into to that conversation, too long) I could write a book on all of the influences that stem from African Culture, that I've learned about over the years! The point is regarding Scat, it originated with Black people! Thankfully I come from a rich Culture of Blacks who were in music back in the late 1800's early 20's and still today! Whites knew nothing about Scat it wasn't in their roots!
cont, the Continents that mattered in the World were Asia( largest) and Africa (the next largest) But back to the Scatting, Mel could blow and so have many others ( Caucasians) done well in Scatting, but the Crown goes to Blacks who had the ability to tell a story with Scatting and Jazz,as well as Blues, and there were reasons, to long to mention here on You Tube, why they developed such forms of improvising with their voices. But take a look into the many types of music in Africa! Just History!
Ella and Mel loved to sing together. Their presentation at the '76 Grammy awards is legendary -- check it out and keep in mind that they're improvising: ruclips.net/video/LBBj4df1c-o/видео.html Contrast these two masters standing up there and just singing without any special effects to the predictable mediocrity that 'popular' music has become, e.g., any recent Grammy show.
You say that blacks created scat, so a white person automatically is taken down a notch? That is a very strange thing to believe. Well, by that logic, the White Mind created all the music scales, modes, harmony, counterpoint, chord progressions, all the melodic musical instruments, music notation, and wrote most of the songs. There was even lots of improv. in classical music, as well. It all goes back to Bach. So, I guess Mel can go up another few notches. Glad you give Mel some credite, though
I'm a humanities professor, and well aware of how the civilized world came into being. Of course, you do know that Africa isn't an exclusively black continent; it never was.
Actually, there were some better Scat singers than Ella, Sarah Vaughn for one, and a few others. But back then there was no comparisons as today, no one wanted to sound alike or be imitated. They all wanted individuality! Many Whites would spend countless hours in black clubs learning Scat, blues, jazz, our way of dance, everything was imitated, until they could get some perfection out of it! Just the facts! Gershwin himself mentioned that in his biography, when he was writing Porgy and Bess!
Sweetie, is not what I say, it's freaking history. Scat never existed to Whites at at all, they spent time learning it from Blacks! Down in the bottoms, in Black Clubs etc,, Wow moving on. The point here is that they Whites/Caucasians knew nothing about Scat, Jazz, Blues, lol the list goes on. This was never in their Culture, in fact they despised it, only a select few in these times, dabbled in our Culture, today it is otherwise! I give credit to who is great and does well in music. cont,
Melody in music has always been amongst Africans! If you're discussing Classical Music, this is the Music that comes from your background. Of course you put pen to paper to meticulously wrote out notes, etc,. Blacks didn't we never did, we sung and harmonized as we felt. (Harmonized) Music goes back long before Europe my dear, hilarious! Please do your history a little better, and get out of the mind set that Whites created everything, because before they were recognized as they are today, cont,
I invite you to continue this conversation through private messages; we obviously disagree, and there is no need to put more negativity into the world. So, cut the sass, and back up your mythology in details. I look forward to reading what you have to say on these matters.
Torme is still to this day WAY TOO UNDERRATED!!! He and Ella sounded like Brother & Sister whenever they sang together.
The 2 greatest. End of story. No one even comes close. 💯🐐
"A singer has to work doubly hard to emit those random notes in scat singing with perfect intonation. Well, I should say all singers except Ella Fitzgerald. Her notes float out in perfect pitch, effortless and, most important of all, swinging." - Mel Torme
I beg to disagree with Mel. While Ella for me is the true queen of jazz singing, I'm not impressed with her scat solos on the whole - and I have listened (on Spotify and YT) to almost everything she and Mel recorded. Actually, I consider Mel a better, cleaner, and more creative scat singer. His advantage was that he played the piano and drums expertly. A talented vocalist with that background and superior voice control has a better chance of sounding impeccable when scatting than someone who is not an instrumentalist at all.
@@deanronson6331then you have not listened enough. Ella is far more versatile and accurate in her syllables and pitch though Mel is pretty much neck to neck with her. Don’t diss Ella cause Mel’s tone pitch phrasing were all borrowed and inspired by Ella’s style. Mel has always said that Ella is his biggest and I mean biggest musical influence , hence the similarities in their techniques and phrasing. She was the mentor and not the student.
@@arlenecerf8833 The versatility of syllables? What a bogus, made-up concept, probably by you. Whoever pays attention to that?! Pitch? Ella's out of tune half the time when scatting because scatting in tune is so much more difficult than singing. Neither of those matter because the main thing is how tonally impeccable and creative a scatter is in his/her improvisation. I'll say it again: Mel was a major jazz singer and instrumentalist, which gave him quite an improv and intonation edge over Ella, who wasn't a pro player. Most listeners, like yourself, don't have enough of a sharp ear to catch all the intonation issues in Ella's singing. They are fooled by her vocal pyrotechnics, the intonation accuracy be damned. Are you sure you studied jazz scatting instead of another meaning that the word "scat" has?
@@deanronson6331 I’m a major in musical theatre and have studied voice hence I am more than capable to share my two cents. You sound like a miserable hater who for no reason makes mountains out of mole hills and conjure issues for no reason at all. Your argument are baseless and feeble. Mel himself ,who is 8 years younger than Ella, has profusely and relentlessly praised Ella throughout his career and cited her as the Best singer and vocal musician of their generation. She was Mel’s biggest musical influence and without her vocal presence , technique and legacy there would be no Mel Torme. He based his whole musical career on Ella hence he is regarded as the “Male Ella Fitzgerald” same as John Hendricks.
@@deanronson6331 Then why is it that Ella is regarded as having absolute pitch/relative pitch . So much so that her pianist use her as a reference during tuning/rehearsals.
Two singers who belong to that group of the greatest singers ever.
Mel Torme, was one of the only White Male Jazz SIngers that could keep up with the Black Jazz Singers, especially when it came to scatting! the boy was on point!
I cannot get enough of their enthusiasm, and especially the shakes at the end. WONDERFUL.
The little dance at the end is quite adorable. Love this duo.
@cammicty
I really feel that Tormé was Ella's musical son---no other jazz singer, white or black, male or female, came nearly so close to Ella's scat competence and freedom as Mel. He modeled his scatting off of hers (and she was truly the beacon). Like Ella, he had an incredibly beautiful voice for ballads, but there was also the strong inclination to improv that made him so dynamic. Check out their performance at the 1976 Grammy awards. All scat and it was phenomenal.
maybe the best 32 seconds of vocal jazz duet ever!
Two of the greatest together. Nuff said.
Wish someone uploaded the full video
Two of my favorite vocalists of ALL TIME!!!!
While I am not the one who clicked on the 'Dislike,' I believe that there is only one thing about this video that would make it get a dislike: it's too short! I want to hear more from these two! More, please!
it's like they're speaking another language, thirty seconds of pure soul
Torme's Strangers In The Night is fantastic - and very funny at the end.
Mel Torme was awesome! He wrote some of the best classics of all time. One of the most prolific songers ever! One of the best songs that has been covered by many is of course, "The Christmas Song." That's right, Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....You know the rest.
Woo! I love them both and that was... AWESOME!
WHAT?!....I NEED MORE MORE MORE!!!
I wish I was there 😻
This clip is ENTIRELY too short! I’m still smiling from ear to ear though 😃
Jazz 'Scat' was born in New Orleans. Louis Armstrong was the first person to introduce it to popular music and recorded music. The Ella perfomance you were refering to was a live rendition of 'Mack The Knife' during one of her European concert dates (I think it was in Berlin), for which she won a Grammy.
He also hailed Ella as having "the best ear of any singer ever." - Mel Torme
my 2 favourite people in the world!
this makes me so happy
Ella was the best female scat singer, and Mel was the best Male Scat singer--black or white.
You betta get it Mel! Mel and Ella the original talents
GENIEUS!
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! that was amazing.
Nice to see the interplay
i wish i had his voice!!!damn he is great...he is not as great as Ella, but he is great! The fact is that he was a white boy, so he could do TOP 40, and his voice was perfect for top 40 if he wanted, but was also great for more particular music like jazz!!!!i mean, he sang with judy garland and with ella!!!
So good!!
cool vid thanks for showing that. I really like Ella
I have posted the full audio of this. This clip is from the Documentary "Something to Live for" The American Masters series biography of Ella Fitzgerald on PBS.
Very nice, thank you!! Its about time you posted a new vid!!
you just can't do better than this!!!
This is Epic Classic!
Exquisite!
cont, we are known for so many genres of music that were born from African Black folks, etc,! It doesn't need to be discussed, because it's a fact. I have traveled worldwide and have seen how the influence of African people (Black Folks) in their music, dance, etc, rules! From the Samba, to Salsa, to Jazz, Blues, the list goes on! It's not even up for discussion, it's a fact! cont,
Mel was amazing, and yes one of the best White Scatters anywhere, if not the best, and better than many Black Scat singers, but not the best! First of Scat is created by the Black Voice, with African influence, etc, so unfortunately this in itself takes Mel down a notch. Scat was only something Blacks did and created, however many Whites spent countless hours in Black Clubs in the past learning. He was never on Al Jerreau's level, of scatting of many others I know of! But he was amazing.
Anyone not familiar with Mel's work, go out and get any of his C.D.s. You can't go wrong. I adore his album of moon songs, every bit as wonderful as Sinatra's and totally different.
What are YT and Spotify for then?
American treasures!!
@cammicty you said it Cammicty! you know he grew up in the hood of chi-town with incredible black jazz musicians, right? check it out.
@terrybeaton Wonderful. Thanks loads for the info.
ok... WOW!
Guess what...the ability to "scat" comes from an individual who along with having a feel for a melodic and rhythmic beat, that if one has the talent to do so, would do it almost automatically. Some of what everyone is saying is true, but there's a whole historical and psycological thing that even the most learned professionals don't even realize about the subject. Stop with the power struggle. Some caucasians saying; "we can do that too", some African Americans saying we're better.
@bolder2009 talk about stating the obvious....=) I love being here with other people who love these two!!!.. young mel and ella have the chops that every jazz singer wishes they had. (at least from where I'm standin!) don't forget joe williams, johnny hartman, Anita oday, chet baker, tony bennett and Dino. =)
how was ella ever in trouble here? she lead the chase, how did she have to hold her own? she was comfortable giving him some exercises, you can see he knew his place and was happy to grow and learn this has nothing to do with skin but skill
cont, I have traveled from one end of Africa to the other, as well as well other countries, (lol not going into to that conversation, too long) I could write a book on all of the influences that stem from African Culture, that I've learned about over the years! The point is regarding Scat, it originated with Black people! Thankfully I come from a rich Culture of Blacks who were in music back in the late 1800's early 20's and still today! Whites knew nothing about Scat it wasn't in their roots!
FUCK ME, they were good!
always in time, perfect pitch - and completely effortless.
oh i love this..
♥♥♥
well said
@faithlessaaa almost
cont, the Continents that mattered in the World were Asia( largest) and Africa (the next largest) But back to the Scatting, Mel could blow and so have many others ( Caucasians) done well in Scatting, but the Crown goes to Blacks who had the ability to tell a story with Scatting and Jazz,as well as Blues, and there were reasons, to long to mention here on You Tube, why they developed such forms of improvising with their voices. But take a look into the many types of music in Africa! Just History!
@HappyBlue2009 Me tooooooo what happened??!
Does anybody know which year and where this was performed? Or where I can find the full version?
All the arguing about the video. SHUT THE HELL UP and enjoy the gifts that are presented in this short 33 second clip on youtube. Its beautiful!
@cammicty thats cause the man had soul (and was just a pro)
Ella and Mel loved to sing together. Their presentation at the '76 Grammy awards is legendary -- check it out and keep in mind that they're improvising:
ruclips.net/video/LBBj4df1c-o/видео.html
Contrast these two masters standing up there and just singing without any special effects to the predictable mediocrity that 'popular' music has become, e.g., any recent Grammy show.
Even Ella's laugh sounded like scatting.
You say that blacks created scat, so a white person automatically is taken down a notch? That is a very strange thing to believe. Well, by that logic, the White Mind created all the music scales, modes, harmony, counterpoint, chord progressions, all the melodic musical instruments, music notation, and wrote most of the songs. There was even lots of improv. in classical music, as well. It all goes back to Bach. So, I guess Mel can go up another few notches. Glad you give Mel some credite, though
I'm a humanities professor, and well aware of how the civilized world came into being. Of course, you do know that Africa isn't an exclusively black continent; it never was.
Seisooko tuo Suomisen Olli jakkaralla?. Eihän se noin pitkä ole.
Actually, there were some better Scat singers than Ella, Sarah Vaughn for one, and a few others. But back then there was no comparisons as today, no one wanted to sound alike or be imitated. They all wanted individuality! Many Whites would spend countless hours in black clubs learning Scat, blues, jazz, our way of dance, everything was imitated, until they could get some perfection out of it! Just the facts! Gershwin himself mentioned that in his biography, when he was writing Porgy and Bess!
Sweetie, is not what I say, it's freaking history. Scat never existed to Whites at at all, they spent time learning it from Blacks! Down in the bottoms, in Black Clubs etc,, Wow moving on. The point here is that they Whites/Caucasians knew nothing about Scat, Jazz, Blues, lol the list goes on. This was never in their Culture, in fact they despised it, only a select few in these times, dabbled in our Culture, today it is otherwise! I give credit to who is great and does well in music. cont,
Melody in music has always been amongst Africans! If you're discussing Classical Music, this is the Music that comes from your background. Of course you put pen to paper to meticulously wrote out notes, etc,. Blacks didn't we never did, we sung and harmonized as we felt. (Harmonized) Music goes back long before Europe my dear, hilarious! Please do your history a little better, and get out of the mind set that Whites created everything, because before they were recognized as they are today, cont,
Not bad for a white boy! Haha!
I invite you to continue this conversation through private messages; we obviously disagree, and there is no need to put more negativity into the world. So, cut the sass, and back up your mythology in details. I look forward to reading what you have to say on these matters.