A unique salute to the arrangers and artists who pioneered West Coast, or 'Cool Jazz' - James Tormé revives the style that changed everything in popular music.

Using his creamy, floaty voice to reinvent original arrangements, Tormé traces the inception and subsequent flowering of a new, laid-back yet sophisticated sound that emerged just as the jazz genre was fighting for its very existence. One the planet’s most natural melodic and rhythmic improvisers, Tormé uncovers brand-new colors and textures while he celebrates historical jazz records that exemplify West Coast Jazz.

Breathing new life into the world-famous Marty Paich ‘Dek-tette’ sound embraced so masterfully by James’ father Mel and Ella Fitzgerald, the jaw-dropping work of Capitol Records’ Russ Garcia and Pete Rugolo, the brilliant restraint of Johnny Mandel and Bill Holman, the smokey, hard-hitting arrangements of Billy May and Shorty Rogers and delicate touch of Bill Byers, Tormé covers all the important ground, dusting off the great mid-century recordings one at a time to take them to the next level.

From Ella Fitzgerald’s “Black Magic” and “Whisper Not”, Quincy Jones and Ray Charles’ “In The Heat Of The Night”, Peggy Lee’s “Come Back To Me”, and Mel Tormé’s “Too Close For Comfort”, “Too Darn Hot”, “No Moon At All” and “Hi-Fly”, the second-generation vocal star covers all the important ground. With shades of other major influences Chet Baker, Anita O’Day, Nat ‘King’ Cole, June Christy, Chris Connor (his dad Mel), Lou Rawls and more, Tormé’s Birth Of The West Coast is the very rarest of musical experiences.

SELECTED TITLES FROM BIRTH OF THE WEST COAST

“That Old Black Magic”
“Whisper Not”
- Ella Fitzgerald / arr. Marty Paich

“Swingin’ On The Moon”
- Mel Tormé / arr. Russ Garcia

“Margie”
- Ray Charles / arr. Marty Paich

“Feeling Good”
- Chris Connor / arr. Bill Byers

“Down For Double”
“Don’t Get Around Much Any More”
- Mel Tormé / arr. Johnny Mandel

“At The Crossroads / Malegueña”
- Mel Tormé / arr. Billy May

“Come Back To Me”
- Peggy Lee / arr. Bill Holman

“Moanin’ ”
“Green Dolphin Street”
- Mel Tormé / arr. Shorty Rogers