Many times, many ways...

This concludes a Monday feature on Christmas songs. 

Legend has it this song was written during a sweltering summer.

Bob Wells wanted to cool off. Mel Torme saw the opening lines scratched on a sheet of paper. Quietly came "The Christmas Song."

Let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story, so we'll go with it.

This is my favorite Christmas song. Always has, always will.

Everybody knows (no pun intended) the 1961 version. Here is the version Nat Cole recorded with his trio in 1946.

Such a song to savor, huh?

Here we are, the holidays upon us, holy cow.

We'll talk again, but just in case:

Although it's been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you...

Quiet Saturday night

What's shakin' on this Saturday night?

It is relatively quiet here. Mel Torme (and Friends!) is on the turntable. "Porgy and Bess Medley." Doo be doo be doo dah. Remind me to tell you a Torme tale here in a minute.

Hate we couldn't make it to Brent and Katie's wedding in Music City. Of all things, I passed a small kidney stone. And I'm getting over an infection. Hey, at least I passed the darn thing. It's only the second of 14 I've been able to get rid of naturally.

Thank God for Spencer Solomon. Not only does the 20-something give me hope for the future in terms of his musical taste, but he's also a darn good guy.

Spencer brought over 15 DVD volumes of "The Dean Martin Variety Show" for me to watch while I'm laid up this weekend. How about that?

Everybody loves somebody, sometime...

As I told somebody earlier, I was a little disappointed when my condo didn't have a pole on which I could swing down from the upstairs to the living room, like Dean did. Maybe I can get Jenn to buy me an orange couch, "Mad Men" era, though.

I mentioned Mel. True story: A friend of mine went to see Torme years ago here in Knoxville. He was single at the time and brought along a buddy who, uh, had bent one elbow too many earlier in the day.

After the show, my pal got to meet Mel. He said Mel was nice, gracious, welcoming ... until the bombed buddy said, "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Bennett."

And off the bus went into the night.

Also, I had forgotten that my favorite disc jockey -- WNYC's Jonathan Schwartz -- shows up on "Mel Torme and Friends Live at Michael's Pub New York." Talk about the best of both worlds.

Let's toast one to Brent and Katie. We're there in spirit, y'all.

Have a good weekend.

'New York State of Mind'

I'll explain this more on Monday, but for now, submitted for your approval, is Mel Torme's excellent cover of Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind."

Happy Friday, y'all. Have a good weekend!

'Here's that Rainy Day'

Because it's raining here in K-town this afternoon, here is one of my favorite songs, by the late, great Mel Torme.

Smooth as silk, baby!

Funny, that rainy day is here...

Mel mania and the last long, hot summer

In many ways, it was the last long, hot summer.

I was still in school, crowding in on my last year at UT, working at a book store to pay what few bills I had then, and taking a jazz history course -- for credit! Those were the days.

Seems like I heard the news, appropriately enough, on the radio. Mel Torme, the Velvet Fog, was dead.

I had found him through, of all people, Harry Anderson, and "Night Court." Being the weirdo kid I was, I bought a cassette tape of Mel's classic "Swings Shubert Alley" when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, while the other kids were into rap or Wilson Phillips or whatever.

Man, could that cat scat. Like somebody once said, "Shubert Alley" swings with a power that rock and roll never could.

I found the tape and played it in the car the morning Mel died.

Too close, too close for comfort, now...

Keith Brown played a cut or two of Mel's music in class. I've forgotten what, but I think it was from the Shubert album. Of course. What else?

After I graduated, I shot up into a Mel mania, buying a pristine copy of his peerless autobiography, "It Wasn't All Velvet," on eBay, along with several CDs and a rare VHS copy of Mel's 1982 TV special. There he is, scatting and swinging, knocking out "Here's That Rainy Day" and "New York State of Mind." Yeah, baby.

I stumbled across the tape earlier and slipped it in the dust-covered VHS player to forget about the flu. It made me think of that last long, hot summer, and about an era long gone with the wind, at Shubert Alley, or "On the Street Where You Live."

Here is a link to a Torme tale I like very much.

By the way, I am on a quixotic quest to find Mel's cover version of "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues." Shoot me an e-mail if you have it or know where I can get it. JakeMabe1@aol.com

Coming on easy...

So it's just after supper and I feel like hell.

I'm blaming this cold. Won't go away. Head feels heavier than a Mack truck.

So I curl up in the easy chair and flip on the TV. Don't much care for the old movie on Turner. Flip it over to XM radio. Oh, good. Here's Jonathan Schwartz.

Sinatra is dreaming that same old dream. Then comes Dinah Washington. Now that woman had some pipes. I can't remember the song. Head still hurts.

Music is therapeutic, me thinks. Makes you forget the world awhile. Almost warms away the cold.

Almost.

It's difficult to get away from the Chairman of the Board, once you've heard a touch of that voice, and Nelson Riddle, and the lost art of it all. That cat could swing. Ring a ding ding.

So it's good-bye XM and a quick jaunt over to the CD player. "Songs for Young Lovers."

Well, wait a minute. Here's Torme. Damn that Schwartz.

OK, don't like the song. On to the turntable.

I've about decided this is my favorite Sinatra album. His musical biographer Will Friedwald favors "Songs for Swinging Lovers!", I suspect mainly for "I've Got You Under My Skin."

But, think of how it must have been, way back in '53, to chuck crap like "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?" for The Voice, now with a deeper baritone, sporting that snazzy hat, warming the night with his funny valentine.

Stay, little valentine stay, Each day is valentine's day...

When I'm not in the mood for the romantic stuff, I switch to the later Reprise discs. Torch songs.

Look at me, I'm drinkin' again...

I still think nobody beats Frankie on that overrated Sondheim tune from "A Little Night Music."

Don't you love farce? My fault, I fear...

Somebody, maybe it was arranger Gordon Jenkins, says you hear Sinatra utter that one word -- farce -- and your life flashes before you, and you think of all those silly love affairs, and the gals that got away, and the one that broke your heart, and... well, you get the idea. It's difficult to argue. Been there.

Then I get tired of the whole darn thing and need a little Skynyrd.

What can I say? You can take Jake out of Halls, but you can't take Halls out of Jake...

Either way, it's coming on easy tonight. I've nearly forgotten the headache.