There's an old saying you can't improvise until you know the melody, and Mel Tormé knew both. (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999). He was a child prodigy. A supreme vocal technician whose style encompassed everything from intimate pop crooning to jet-propelled scat improvisations, Mr. Torme was rivaled in virtuosity only by Ella Fitzgerald, who moved between the worlds of pop and jazz with a similar ease. An innate classicist who approached popular songs with an analytic sense of balance and pro

Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (Live) (1953) Nat King Cole’s rendition of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” is one of the most cherished holiday classics, capturing the essence of the season with its warm imagery and heartfelt delivery. Written in 1945 by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells during a sweltering summer, the song’s vivid winter imagery was a deliberate attempt to conjure a cooler atmosphere. The result was a lyrical masterpiec