Mel Torme Quotes

I want to sing for the broadest possible audience.

As a singer, the biggest joy I have are the arrangements.

I would be a liar if I said it wouldn't be lovely and soothing - that's the word - to have a hit single or a hit album.

I'm going to continue to talk to the people, because I do believe that if they get to know you and what you are as a human being, they can more appreciate what you are as a performer.

As regards my feelings about drummers - there's Buddy Rich, and then there's everybody else.

Since the advent of Benny Goodman, there have been too few clarinetists to fill the void that Goodman left. Ken Peplowski is most certainly one of those few. The man is magic.

Whenever I did a good performance, my Dad and my uncles, who were rabid movie fans, took me to the movies. There began my underlying love affair with film.

To me, nostalgia is nothing more than a mindless plundering of the past for the commonplace.

Because obviously the whole purpose of putting records out is purely and simply to make money.

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.

Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio.

As Buddy Rich, for instance, broke into the business at the age of three, I think it was, on drums, so indeed did I break into the business at the age of four as a singer.

Buddy Rich is one of a kind; he's a genius, and that's all there is to it.

It may sound a bit like an army barracks, but the truth of the matter is: there must be some time laid aside for arranging, time for working on either a book or an article - I've written two articles in the last four months for the New York Times book review section.

I got into radio when I was eight, and I was one of the busiest child dramatic actors in America.