Mel

1989 · ref. 7887 — 1989. Tormé Mel. Signed check dated 1989 documenting the routine financial administration of the jazz vocalist composer arranger and actor whose career extended from the swing era through the late twentieth-century revival of traditional jazz singing. Tormé was an influential interpreter of the American popular songbook a founding member of the Mel-Tones and co-writer of "The Christmas Song"; by the late 1980s he was recording extensively for Concord Jazz and had received renewed critical recognition for his vocal work. The check provides primary-source evidence of the everyday business practices surrounding a working jazz musician and supports research into performer finances music-industry administration and the professional life of a major American vocalist. Tormé Mel. Signed check. June 9 1989. 1 page. Made payable in the amount of $256.45 and signed "Mel Tormé" in blue ink. The payee and purpose of the expenditure are not supplied limiting interpretation of the specific transaction but the document records a payment personally authorized by Tormé during an active period of recording and performance. As a signed banking instrument it illustrates the routine financial mechanisms underlying a sustained career in jazz and popular entertainment. Signature remains clear and fully legible; no significant wear is reported near fine. A well-preserved financial document bearing Mel Tormé's authentic signature and connecting his public musical career with its day-to-day administrative activity. unknown