Mel Torme, Singer/Writer, 1925, Chicago, IL
Mel was primarily known as a singer, but he was also well-schooled with the piano, and drums, and while still in his teens he toured as a singer, arranger, and drummer in a band led by the comedian Chico Marx. By 1943 he was in Hollywood ,and appeared the film "Higher and Higher", and was also leading a vocal swing group, The Mel-Tones. After his discharge from the army in 1946 he became known as a first-rate arranger. His reputation as one of the finest pop and jazz singers in the music business gained him access to several musical film roles. Early in his career the tone of his his high, husky voice caused him to be nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", but in time it deepened into a well-controlled baritone. Torme achieved periodic success in nightclubs, on television, and through recordings, and he was certaily admired by fellow musicians as well as the record-buying public. From the 1960s he was busy producing television shows and further developed his career as an actor and writer. He has composed about 300 popular songs, most notably The Christmas Song. While Mel performed with countless prominent musicians during his career, his most satisfying collaboration was with the great George Shearing. Torme, a skilled author, has also written biographies of Judy Garland, and Buddy Rich, as well as his own autobiography, - It Wasn't All Velvet. Mel Torme died in 1999.
Chu Berry, Saxophone, 1908, Wheeling, WV
There was always plenty of music in the Berry household, but it was Chu's records by Coleman Hawkins that made him decide on a career as a tenor player. He played the alto sax in high school and also during his three years at West Virginia State College, but he switched to the tenor shortly after finishing school. In 1929 Chu received his first professional gig in Sammy Stewart's Chicago-based big band. In the early '30s he decided to move to New York so that he could be near the "action" ,and he did secure work with Teddy Hill and Fletcher Henderson. He joined Cab Calloway's band in 1937, remaining as it's star soloist until his death in an automobile accident four years later. Berry was strongly influenced by Coleman Hawkins, but soon developed his own distinctive style, and even became influential in his own right during Hawkin's long absence from the American jazz scene during the mid '30s. His sound was less voluptuous than Hawkin's, and his melodic imagination not as active, but he was certainly Hawk's equal in harmonic sophistication. In fact, some feel his swing and drive were superior to Hawkins. Had he lived, Berry might well have offset the overwhelming influence of Lester Young on later tenor saxophone players.
Leonard Feather, Musician, Composer, Writer, 1914. London ENG
Although Leonard is probably best remembered as a jazz writer/critic, he was also a schooled musician (piano & clarinet) and composer. During most of the 1920s he attended the St. Paul School and University College in London . Early in his career he produced numerous recordings and wrote swinging arrangements for Benny Carter and George Chisholm when they were in England ,and in the mid '30s he moved to the U.S. and performed the same duties for Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. During the 1940s Leonard began organizing successful jazz concerts at Carnegie Hall, and produced the first recordings of Dinah Washington, George Shearing, and Sarah Vaughan. Later, he wrote and arranged for Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Andre Previn, Phil Woods, and Sonny Stitt. In the '70s and '80s he taught at Loyola Marymount University and the University of California. Feather was a very prominent columnist for the Los Angeles Times and wrote numerous reviews and articles for Metronome, Down Beat, Esquire, Playboy, and Jazz Times. Leonard Feather died in 1994.
