SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER, 2016
VOLUME TWO NUMBER TWO
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER, 2016
VOLUME TWO NUMBER TWO
NINA SIMONE
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
NAT KING COLE
January 2-8
ETTA JAMES
January 9-15
JACKIE MCLEAN
January 16-22
TERRI LYNN CARRINGTON
January 23-29
NANCY WILSON
January 30-February 6
BOB MARLEY
February 7-13
LOUIS ARMSTRONG
February 14-20
HORACE SILVER
February 21-27
SHIRLEY HORN
February 28-March 6
T-BONE WALKER
March 7-13
HOWLIN’ WOLF
March 14-20
DIANNE REEVES
March 21-27
All,
As I was adding the finishing touches to my first Sound Projections entry for 2016, the great and immortal legend Nat King Cole, I discovered that his beloved and very talented daughter Natalie Cole died yesterday on New Year’s Eve. She was 65 years old. Natalie inherited much of her father’s extraordinary musical talent and charming, dynamic personality and was a highly accomplished singer and actress in her own right. Natalie was just 15 years old when she lost her father to lung cancer in 1965 when Nat was only 45 years young. To say that like her father Natalie Cole will be sorely and deeply missed is a great understatement. My heartfelt condolences go to her mother, remaining siblings and entire extended family in their collective grief and I offer this tribute and homage to Mr. Cole as a token of my deep and abiding love and appreciation for one of the finest and most important artists of the 20th century.
Goodbye Natalie. We love and will never forget you. Thank you forever for your wonderful artistry as a singer and actress. Like your father you were always an absolute joy and inspiration to see and hear. RIP sister.
Love,
Kofi
As I was adding the finishing touches to my first Sound Projections entry for 2016, the great and immortal legend Nat King Cole, I discovered that his beloved and very talented daughter Natalie Cole died yesterday on New Year’s Eve. She was 65 years old. Natalie inherited much of her father’s extraordinary musical talent and charming, dynamic personality and was a highly accomplished singer and actress in her own right. Natalie was just 15 years old when she lost her father to lung cancer in 1965 when Nat was only 45 years young. To say that like her father Natalie Cole will be sorely and deeply missed is a great understatement. My heartfelt condolences go to her mother, remaining siblings and entire extended family in their collective grief and I offer this tribute and homage to Mr. Cole as a token of my deep and abiding love and appreciation for one of the finest and most important artists of the 20th century.
Goodbye Natalie. We love and will never forget you. Thank you forever for your wonderful artistry as a singer and actress. Like your father you were always an absolute joy and inspiration to see and hear. RIP sister.
Love,
Kofi
Nat and Natalie Cole in 1956
Nat and Natalie Cole in 1991
Nat King Cole: Original Five-Tool Jazz Player
March 16, 2010
by Mary McCann
NPR
Hear The Songs
Nat King Cole was enduring, iconic and, appropriately enough, unforgettable.
Keystone/Hulton Archive
In baseball, a five-tool player is a treasured resource. He's fast, he's a good defensive player, he throws with accuracy, and he hits for both average and power. Having just one of these skills can make a baseball player's career. The odds against having more than one are astronomical. Having five produces a very rare player.
Cole could wear the five-tool cap. He was the originator of the guitar/bass/piano trio format, played an extremely influential role as a pianist, broke down barriers between jazz and popular music and became a true multimedia superstar. He was also the first African-American to host a nationally broadcast television series. He was enduring, iconic and, appropriately enough, unforgettable.
His pop persona has burned so brightly for so long, it has somewhat eclipsed the breadth and importance of his influence. So, in the spirit of fair play, it's a fine time to celebrate the original five-tool player of jazz, Nat King Cole.
Nat King Cole: Original Five-Tool Jazz Player
Jumpin' At Capitol
- Artist: Nat King Cole
- From: Jumpin' at Capitol
Straighten Up And Fly Right
- Artist: Nat King Cole
- From: Definitive Nat "King" Cole
I've Found A New Baby
- Artist: Lester Young
- From: Complete Lester Young Studio Sessions on Verve [#1]
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
- Artist: Nat King Cole
- From: World of Nat King Cole
Route 66
- Artist: Nat King Cole Trio
- From: After Midnight: The Complete Session
http://www.biography.com/people/nat-king-cole-9253026
Nat King Cole Biography
Pianist
Singer,
Composer,
Film Actor,
Television Personality
(1919–1965)
Birth Date
March 17, 1919
Death Date
February 15, 1965
Education
DuSable High School
Place of Birth
Montgomery, Alabama
Place of Death
Santa Monica, California
AKA
Nat Cole
Nathaniel Coles
Nat King Cole
Originally
Nathaniel Adams Coles
Synopsis
Early Years
Pop Vocalist
Television and Films
Final Days
Personal Life
Videos
Singer,
Composer,
Film Actor,
Television Personality
(1919–1965)
Birth Date
March 17, 1919
Death Date
February 15, 1965
Education
DuSable High School
Place of Birth
Montgomery, Alabama
Place of Death
Santa Monica, California
AKA
Nat Cole
Nathaniel Coles
Nat King Cole
Originally
Nathaniel Adams Coles
Synopsis
Early Years
Pop Vocalist
Television and Films
Final Days
Personal Life
Videos
Nat King Cole became the first African-American performer to host a variety TV series in 1956. He's best known for his soft baritone voice and for singles like "The Christmas Song," "Mona Lisa" and "Nature Boy.”
Synopsis
Born on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, Nat King Cole was an American musician who first came to prominence as a jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. In 1956, Cole became the first African-American performer to host a variety television series, and for many white families, he was the first black man welcomed into their living rooms each night. He has maintained worldwide popularity since his death in 1965.
Early Years
Known for his smooth and well-articulated vocal style, Nat King Cole actually started out as a piano man. He first learned to play around the age of 4 with help from his mother, a church choir director. The son of a Baptist pastor, Cole may have started out playing religious music.
In his early teens, Cole had formal classical piano training. He eventually abandoned classical for his other musical passion—jazz. Earl Hines, a leader of modern jazz, was one of Cole's biggest inspirations. At 15, he dropped out of school to become a jazz pianist full time. Cole joined forces with his brother Eddie for a time, which led to his first professional recordings in 1936. He later joined a national tour for the musical revue Shuffle Along, performing as a pianist.
The following year, Cole started to put together what would become the King Cole Trio, the name being a play on the children's nursery rhyme. They toured extensively and finally landed on the charts in 1943 with "That Ain't Right," penned by Cole. "Straighten Up and Fly Right," inspired by one of his father's sermons, became another hit for the group in 1944. The trio continued its rise to the top with such pop hits as the holiday classic "The Christmas Song" and the ballad "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons."
Pop Vocalist
By the 1950s, Nat King Cole emerged as a popular solo performer. He scored numerous hits, with such songs as "Nature Boy," "Mona Lisa," "Too Young, " and "Unforgettable." In the studio, Cole got to work with some of the country's top talent, including Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, and famous arrangers such as Nelson Riddle. He also met and befriended other stars of the era, including popular crooner Frank Sinatra.
As an African American performer, Cole struggled to find his place in the civil rights movement. He had encountered racism firsthand, especially while touring in the South. In 1956, Cole had been attacked by white supremacists during a mixed race performance in Alabama. He was rebuked by other African Americans, however, for his less-than-supportive comments about racial integration made after the show. Cole basically took the stance that he was an entertainer, not an activist.
Cole's presence on the record charts dwindled in the late 1950s. But this decline did not last long. His career returned to top form in the early 1960s. The 1962 country-influenced hit "Rambin' Rose" reached the number two spot on the Billboard pop charts. The following spring, Cole won over music fans with the light-hearted tune "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer." He made his last appearances on the pop charts in his lifetime in 1964. Modest successes compared to his earlier hits, Cole delivered two ballads—"I Don't Want to Hurt Anymore" and "I Don't Want to See Tomorrow"—in his signature smooth style.
Television and Films
Cole made television history in 1956, when he became the first African-American performer to host a variety TV series. The Nat King Cole Show featured many of the leading performers of the day, including Count Basie, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett. Unfortunately, the series didn't last long, going off the air in December 1957. Cole blamed the show's demise on the lack of a national sponsor. The sponsorship problem has been seen as a reflection of the racial issues of the times with no company seemingly wanting to back a program that featured African-American entertainers.
After his show went off the air, Cole continued to be a presence on television. He appeared on such popular programs as The Ed Sullivan Show and The Garry Moore Show.
On the big screen, Cole had first started out in small roles in the 1940s, largely playing some version of himself. He landed some sizable parts in the late 1950s, appearing in the Errol Flynn drama Istanbul (1957). That same year, Cole appeared in the war drama China Gate with Gene Barry and Angie Dickinson. His only major starring role came in 1958, in the drama St. Louis Blues, also starring Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway. Cole played the role of blues great W.C. Handy in the film. His final film appearance came in 1965: He performed alongside Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin in the light-hearted Western Cat Ballou.
Final Days
In 1964, Cole discovered that he had lung cancer. He succumbed to the disease just months later, on February 15, 1965, at the age of 45, in Santa Monica, California. A "who's who" of the entertainment world, including the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Jack Benny, attended the legendary musician's funeral, held a few days later in Los Angeles. Released around this time, L-O-V-E proved to be Cole's final recording. The title track of the album remains hugely popular to this day, and has been featured on a number of film soundtracks.
Since his death, Cole's music has endured. His rendition of "The Christmas Song" has become a holiday classic and many of his other signature songs are frequently selected for film and television soundtracks. His daughter Natalie has also carried on the family profession, becoming a successful singer in her own right. In 1991, she helped her father achieve a posthumous hit. Natalie Cole recorded his hit "Unforgettable" and put their vocals together as a duet.
Personal Life
Cole married for the first time when he was only 17. He and first wife Nadine Robinson divorced in 1948. Only a short time later, Cole married singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, with whom he raised five children. The couple had three biological children, daughters Natalie, Casey and Timolin, and two adopted children, daughter Carol and son Nat Kelly.
https://rockhall.com/inductees/nat-king-cole/bio/
NAT KING COLE BIOGRAPHY
Nat “King” Cole
(vocals, piano; born March 17, 1919, died February 15, 1965)
Nat “King” Cole conquered the pop charts in the Fifties and early Sixties as a warm-voiced singer of orchestrated ballads like “Mona Lisa” and “Unforgettable,” and breezy, countrified sing-alongs including “Ramblin’ Rose” and “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer.” Less well known is the fact that he played a mean piano (in the style of Earl “Fatha” Hines) and led a swinging jazz trio from 1937 to 1955. Cole’s drummerless trio was an innovation, and no less an authority than Count Basie marveled at their improvisational interplay: “Those cats used to read each other’s minds — it was unbelievable.” Early stirrings of rock and roll can be detected in such swinging, lingo-filled tunes as “Straighten Up and Fly Right” and “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” recorded in 1943 and 1946, respectively, by the King Cole Trio. With its three guitars, honking sax and gritty vocal, the 1957 hit “Send for Me” (Number One R&B, Number Six pop) was formally as close as Cole ever got to rock and roll.
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1919. His mother was a church choir director, and his father was a Baptist pastor. When he was four years old, Cole and his family moved to Chicago. Around the same time, Cole learned how to play piano. He then began formal piano training when he was in his teens. He was inspired by the piano playing of Earl Hines, and when he was 15, he dropped out of school to become a full-time jazz piano player.
In 1937, a club owner in Los Angeles – where Cole had moved to after playing piano in a national tour of Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Along – christened him Nat “King” Cole, and that same year he formed the King Cole Trio. The jazz trio toured extensively and signed with Capitol Records in 1943. That same year, the trio hit the charts with the song “That Ain’t Right.” The trio scored another hit the following year with “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” a song based on one of Cole’s father’s sermons. That record sold 500,000 copies.
Cole’s transformation from jumpin’ jive to pop balladry came in 1946, when “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” became a million seller for the King Cole Trio. When his first orchestrated number, the definitive version of Mel Torme’s classic “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You),” became a seasonal hit that same year, there was virtually no turning back.
Cole continued to score hits with such songs as 1948’s “Nature Boy” and 1950’s “Mona Lisa.” The following year, Cole hit Number One with the song “Too Young.” That same year he had another hit with “Unforgettable.” During this period, Cole also worked as a session musician, recording with such artists as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
In 1956, Cole made television history when he became the first African-American host of a variety television series. The Nat King Cole Show, which remained on the air until December 1957, featured performances by such artists as Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peggy Lee.
The Fifties and Sixties found Cole recording with various orchestras, including Nelson Riddle’s and Billy May’s. While his work from this period shared little with the rock and roll revolution that was under way, Cole’s broader influence on the idiom as a musical pioneer and as a popular star is undeniable. In 1962, he scored a Number Two pop hit with “Ramblin’ Rose,” and the following year he scored another big hit with “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” which reached Number Six on the charts.
Cole’s final chart hits came in 1964, with the songs “I Don’t Want to Hurt Anymore” and “I Don’t Want to See Tomorrow.”
Over the course of his career, Cole appeared on numerous television shows and in several feature films. In 1958, he played the role of W.C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues, and in 1965, he appeared alongside Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou.
In December 1964, Cole was diagnosed with lung cancer. That same month, he released his last album, L-O-V-E, which reached Number Four on the charts. Nat “King” Cole died on February 15, 1965. He was 45 years old.
In 1991, Mosaic Records released an 18-CD box set, The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio. It included 349 songs. That same year, Cole’s daughter, Natalie Cole, scored a hit after she recorded a duet with her father, adding her vocals to his song “Unforgettable.” The father-daughter duet won seven Grammy awards.
Nat Cole received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.
http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/natkingcole-piano
Nat "King" Cole
Nat King Cole was one of the most popular singers ever to hit the American charts. A brilliant recording and concert artist during the 40's, 50's and 60's, he attracted millions of fans around the world with a sensitive and caressing singing voice that was unmistakable.
Cole has a rare blend of technical musical knowledge and sheer performing artistry topped off with an abundance of showmanship. In the 23 years that he recorded with Capitol Records, he turned out hit after amazing hit - nearly 700 songs - all the while managing to remain a gentle, tolerant and gracious human being.
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919. He was the son of Baptist minister, Edward James Coles, and mother, Perlina Adams, who sang soprano and directed the choir in her husband's church. Cole grew up in Chicago, met and married a girl in New York; they had five children and lived in Hancock Park in Los Angeles.
He had a distinctive voice, which has been compared to the quality of velvet, a pussy willow, a calm evening breeze, a still summer morning and a soft snow fall. In the case of Nat King Cole, who dropped an “s” off his last name and put a nickname in the middle, the lyricism is merited.
The first sign that Cole was destined for a musical life was at age four, when he was able to pick out a fairly good two-handed rendition of “Yes, We Have No Bananas.” He later played the organ in his father's church. In high school he organized a 14-piece band, with himself as pianist and leader.
In 1937, after finishing high school, Cole joined a road company of the revue, “Shuffle Along.” The show broke up a few months later in Long Beach, California, when a sticky-fingered member of the troop made off with the show's $800 treasury. He also wrote a song called “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” which he sold for $50.
Cole spent the next period looking for work and not having much luck. Finally a night club manager offered him $75 per week for an instrumental quartet. He hired a guitarist, bass fiddle player and a drummer. On opening night the drummer didn't show up but the manager took trio and didn't cut the price.
Even though instrumental trios were not highly popular in those days, the King Cole Trio developed a large and faithful following. With Cole on the piano and later, vocals, Oscar Moore on guitar and Johnny Miller on bass, the trio eventually played the best clubs in the country and had their own radio show. They eventually won awards from every music publication in the U.S., and their jazz records are now treasured collectors' items.
A new career was inadvertently created for Cole when a tipsy customer at a small Hollywood bistro insisted on hearing him sing “Sweet Lorraine.” To quiet the drunk, he sang the tune and thus launched his legendary singing career.
In 1942, Cole became one of the first artists to join Capitol Records,
then a fledgling company. With his King Cole Trio, he recorded such
popular songs as “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “Sweet Lorraine” and
“Embraceable You.” For the remainder of this life, Cole always sang with
the trio even when he began to sing with an orchestra. “Capitol and I felt that a big band behind me would sell more records,” said Cole. 'Nature Boy' was the first of these and it proved we were right. “He never regretted the decision.”
Cole became one of the world's leading record-sellers. It is not correct to say that every Nat King Cole recording was a hit. There was one, in 1953, that was a decided bust. But, as far as anyone at Capitol can recall, that was the only one to reach flop status. From the time he recorded one of his very first discs, “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” through “Mona Lisa,” “Too Young,” “Route 66,” “Non Dimenticar,” “Rambling Rose,” and countless others, Cole probably had more hit records than any other artist of his day, including the number- one-selling holiday recording of all time, The Christmas Song.
Cole's consistent ability to make best-selling records prompted one record columnist to remark that Nat's recordings were “practically legal tender.”
In 1956, Cole had his own network television show on NBC- TV. The “Nat King Cole Show” attracted a wide audience and celebrity guests like Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. It could not, however, attract national advertisers willing to back a show hosted by a black. Rather than submit to an airtime change, Cole abandoned the show after 64 weeks. In December 1957, Cole telecast his last show. It was a bitter disappointment. He put it best when he explained his TV demise, “Madison Avenue,” he said, “is afraid of the dark.”
Throughout Cole's career there was a woman who supported him with love and enthusiasm. His wife, the former Maria Ellington, was a vocalist in Duke Ellington's (no relation) band. She met Cole in 1947 when they were both performing at the Club Zanzibar in New York, and then ten months later they were married. They had five children - Carole, Natalie, Kelly and twins, Timolin and Casey.
When Nat King Cole died of lung cancer on February 15, 1965, he was only 45. It was a loss felt all over the world.
“Nat was a very humble man.” Maria said after the death of her husband. “I don't think he ever realized what a great international talent he had become.”
He made us music millionaires while he lived, and he left a musical legacy to generations to come. All over the world today, his songs are played and as long as those sounds continue, Nat King Cole will live.
Cole, Nat King 1919—1965
Nat King Cole 1919—1965
Vocalist and Musician
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama. When Cole was four years old, his father, Edward, a Baptist minister, accepted a pastorship of a church in Chicago. The family, which included Cole’s
mother, Perlina, his older brother, Edward, and two sisters, Eddie Mae
and Evelyn, moved north. Two younger brothers, Issac and Lionel (called
Freddie), were born later in Chicago. Perlina Coles, choir director at
her husband’s
church, introduced her children to music early on and all four of her
sons became professional musicians. As a small child, Cole could pump
out “Yes, We Have No Bananas”
on the piano and liked to stand in front of the radio with a ruler in
his hand, pretending to conduct an orchestra. At age 12, Cole began
taking formal lessons in piano and also began playing the organ in his
father’s church. If his keyboard skills weren’t needed at church, he was put into the choir.
While attending Wendell Phillips High School, Cole became enamored of jazz music. The African American community on Chicago’s
southside was a center of jazz action in the 1930s. Cole and his older
brother Eddie went as often as possible to hear jazz and be with jazz
musicians. When admission to a performance could not be afforded, Cole
would stand in alleys listening at the stage door. He was most
influenced by the style of pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines. “It was his driving force that appealed to me … I was just a kid and coming up, but I latched onto that new Hines style. Guess I still show the influence today,” Cole told John Tynan of Down Beat in 1957.
Early Musical Career
As a teenager, Cole organized two musical groups~a 14-piece band
called the Rogues of Rhythm, and a quintet called Nat Coles and his
Royal Dukes. He would play with whichever group could get a booking. In
addition to music, athletics played a big role in Cole’s
adolescence and his talent on the baseball diamond drew the interest of
scouts from the Negro Leagues. Cole remained a sports fan throughout
his life. “The only sport I’m not interested in is horse racing, and that’s because I don’t know the horses personally,” Cole told The Saturday Evening Post in 1954.
At age 16, Cole became the pianist for the Solid
At a Glance…
Born Nathaniel Adams Coles, March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, AL; son of
Edward James (a Baptist minister), and Perlina Adams Coles (a choir
dir. and music instructor); married Nadine Robinson (a dancer), 1937
(divorced, 1946); married Maria Hawkins Ellington (a singer), 1948;
children: daughters Carol (adopted), Natalie, Timolin, Casey, and son
Kelly (adopted), all children are from the second marriage; died of lung
cancer in Santa Monica, CA, February 15, 1965. Education—Attended Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago.
Career: Jazz pianist, occasional vocalist, the
King Cole Trio from 1937 to early 950s; began recording as a vocalist of
pop music in 1946. Recordings with the King Cole Trio include “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” 1944; “Route 66,” 1944; “Sweet Lorraine,” 1944; “For Sentimental Reasons,” 1946; and “The Christmas Song,” 1946. Solo recordings include “Nature Boy,” 1948; “Orange Colored Sky,” 1950; “Mona Lisa,” 1950; “Unforgettable,” 1951; “Too Young,” 1951; “Somewhere Along the Way,” 1952; “Pretend,” 1953; “Answer Me, My Love,” 1953; “Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup,” 1953; “A Blossom Fell,” 1955; “Ramblin’ Rose,” 1962; and “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” 1963.
Film appearances include: (as a performer with the King Cole Trio) The Stork Club, 1945, See My Lawyer, 1945, Breakfast in Hollywood, 1946; (as an actor) China Gate, 1957, Istanbul, 1957, St. Louis Blues, 1958, Night of the Quarter Moon, 1959, Cat Ballou, 1965.
Radio and television work includes: a weekly radio program with King Cole Trio, 1946-47, and a television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, NBC, 1956-57.
Swingers, a quintet formed by his brother Eddie. Late night
engagements made keeping up with academic work difficult and Cole
gradually dropped out of school before earning a diploma. In 1936, as
pianist for the Solid Swingers, Cole participated on several records for
the Decca company’s Sepia Series. These were “race” records aimed at black audiences. Though the Solid Swingers’
recordings did not enjoy much popularity, the fact that a record
company had been interested enough to make them in the first place was a
big encouragement for Cole to pursue a career in music.
In 1937, Cole and his brother Eddie joined a revival of the revue Shuffle Along. After a six week run in Chicago, the show went on the road. During the tour, Cole married dancer Nadine Robinson. When the Shuffle Along
company suddenly folded in Long Beach, California, Cole and Robinson
decided to stay on the West Coast. To pay the rent, Cole took whatever
job was available. “It was a tough workout. I must have played every beer joint from San Diego to Bakersfield,” Cole told the Saturday Evening Post. Despite having to play on out of tune pianos at third rate venues, Cole’s
extraordinary talent was noticed and he was soon a regular performer at
the Century Club, a favorite hangout for Los Angeles area jazz
musicians. “All the musicians dug him. We went there just to listen to him because nobody was like him. That cat could play! He was unique,” said a musician who saw Cole at the Century Club to biographer James Haskins.
“King Cole”
In late 1937 or early 1938, dates differ, Cole was asked to put
together a small group to play at the Sewanee Inn, a Los Angeles
nightclub. Cole got guitarist Oscar Moore, bassist Wesley Prince, and
drummer Lee Young to join the group. When Young failed to appear on
opening night, the group went on as a drummer-less trio. Cole was still
using his real name Coles. Sewanee Inn owner Bob Lewis nicknamed him
King Cole and requested that he wear a gold paper crown during
performances. The crown soon disappeared but the nickname stuck. The
group became known as the King Cole Trio and its leader became Nat King
Cole.
Developed Enthusiastic Following
The music scene of the late 1930s was dominated by dance orchestras or “big bands.”
A trio, especially one without a drummer, was an oddity. Nonetheless,
the King Cole Trio developed an enthusiastic local following and found
almost constant work at Los Angeles nightspots, including many clubs
which had never before hired black performers. The trio recorded with
vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and made some recordings of their own for
the “race record”
market. In early 1941, the trio went on a national tour and ended up
spending several months in New York City, playing at top jazz clubs.
Though the trio was primarily an instrumental group, Cole occasionally
supplied a vocal line to add variation. The shy Cole was a reluctant
singer who did not think he had much vocal talent. Even after becoming
one of the most popular singers in the world, his opinion was unchanged.
He told the Saturday Evening Post in 1954—“My voice is nothing to be proud of. It runs maybe two octaves in range. I guess it’s the hoarse, breathy noise that some like.”
In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, the trio’s
bassist Wesley Prince was drafted into the military. He was replaced by
Johnny Miller. Cole was exempted from the draft. Differing accounts
attribute this to either flat feet or hypertension. The trio settled
into a 48-week run at Los Angeles’
331 Club. In 1943, the trio was signed by Capitol Records, a fledgling
operation founded in the previous year by well-known lyricists Johnny
Mercer and Buddy DeSylva, and record store owner Glen Wallichs. The trio’s Capitol recording of “Straighten Up and Fly Right, “with
Cole on piano and as featured vocalist, became a hit in 1944. The song
appealed to both black and white audiences and crossed the barrier
between jazz and popular music. Cole had composed “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” basing its lyrics on one of his father’s
sermons, but he had sold away all rights to the song several years
earlier for $50 and earned nothing extra from the hit recording.
Moved Away from Jazz
The success of the King Cole Trio continued with the hits “Get Your Kicks on Route 66,” and “For Sentimental Reasons.” The trio also performed in movies including The Stork Club, Breakfast in Hollywood, and See My Lawyer. In 1946 they were hired, along with pianist Eddy Duchin, as summer replacements for Bing Crosby on the radio program Kraft Music Hall. “You
have no idea how much satisfaction I got from the acceptance of the
trio, because we opened the way for countless other small groups, units
that before were strictly for cocktail lounges,” Cole told Down Beat in 1957. Cole’s career took a major step away from jazz when the trio recorded Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song.” A hit in the winter of 1946-1947, “The Christmas Song” was the trio’s
first recording with a string section accompaniment and was the first
recording to emphasize Cole as a singer rather than a singing pianist
leading a trio.
Cole’s
move towards being a singer of popular music was viewed by many jazz
purists as an artistic sellout. This shift to the mainstream has been
attributed to the influence of Maria Ellington, an intelligent and
sophisticated young singer whom Cole met in 1946. “Maria saw that Nat had a limited future as a jazz pianist. He couldn’t just sit there and sing and become a big hit. He had to stand up and sing with strings,” said Duke Niles, a songplugger who knew Cole, to biographer Leslie Course.
Many people around Cole, including fellow trio members Moore and
Miller, thought the well-educated Ellington was calculating,
domineering, and snobbish. Others say that Cole enjoyed many kinds of
music (he was also an excellent classical pianist) and felt hindered by
the confines of jazz. He very much wanted to be a big mainstream star
and Ellington’s
guidance merely assisted him in achieving that goal. After obtaining a
divorce from Nadine Robinson, Cole married Ellington at a lavish
ceremony conducted by Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1948. Cole and Ellington had three daughters and adopted a son and another daughter.
Became Showcased Singer
Having added string accompaniment to his recording of “The Christmas Song,” Cole took another step away from jazz with “Nature Boy,”
which he sang with the backing of a full orchestra. The exotic-sounding
ballad was a major hit of 1948. In 1950, another somewhat offbeat
ballad, “Mona Lisa,” soared to the top of the charts and stayed there for weeks. Gradually Cole began singing “stand up” rather than sitting in front of a piano. The King Cole Trio devolved into window dressing for Cole’s solo performances and was finally disbanded in 1955. Success continued with “Unforgettable,” “Too Young,” “Answer Me, My Love,” and “Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup.” Cole’s
mellow delivery was in opposition to the belting offered by other
popular singers of the early 1950s such as Eddie Fisher, Johnny Ray, and
the young Tony Bennett. His careful enunciation of a lyric enabled him
to convey a song with depth and meaning and made his rather limited
vocal range seem irrelevant. “Mine
is a casual approach to a song; I lean heavily on the lyrics. By that I
mean I try to tell a story with the melody as background,” Cole told Down Beat in 1954.
Not Immune to Racial Prejudice
In 1956, Cole was given his own television show on NBC-TV. Despite
good ratings, the program failed to find a sponsor and left the air
after a year. Cole’s
being African American was seen as the primary cause for the lack of
advertising interest. Sponsoring a program that drew a large, if by no
means exclusively, black audience was seen as a waste of money by
advertisers. Racial incidents cropped up from time to time during Cole’s
starring career. When he and his wife bought a house in the exclusive
Hancock Park section of Los Angeles in 1949, neighbors formed an
association to prevent them from moving in. In 1956, at the height of
his fame, Cole was attacked by a group of white men while performing in
Birmingham, Alabama. Cole was sometimes criticized by other blacks for
not taking a more aggressive stand against unfair treatment of racial
minorities. He did not refuse to perform before segregated audiences,
believing that goodwill and an exhibition of his talent were more
effective than formal protests in combating racism.
The advent of rock and roll, the revitalized career of Frank Sinatra
(to whom Cole was often compared), and competition from younger black “crooners” such as Johnny Mathis and Harry Belafonte, caused Cole’s
popularity to fade slightly in the later 1950s. To boost his sagging
career, Cole acted in a several films, and organized a touring concert
show called “Sights and Sounds,”
in which he appeared with a group of young singers and dancers called
the Merry Young Souls. In the early 1960s, he returned to the top ten
with the hits “Ramblin’ Rose,” and “Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer.” Some critics remarked that these vacuous, though catchy, songs were not up to the quality of his earlier hits.
Throughout his adult life, Cole was a heavy smoker who was rarely
seen without a cigarette in his hand. After an operation for stomach
ulcers in 1953, he was advised to stop smoking but did not do so.
Keeping up with a hectic schedule of recording and live appearances, he
ignored signs of ill health. In late 1964 he was diagnosed with an
advanced case of lung cancer. After unsuccessful medical treatments, he
died on February 15, 1965, at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.
Cole’s
recordings, both his jazz material and his mainstream work, have been
discovered by new generations of fans. In 1991, Cole made a strong
resurgence when his daughter Natalie blended her voice with his on a
chart-topping new rendition of “Unforgettable.” Also in 1991, the Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio were released to the delight of jazz fans. Listening to the trio’s complete recordings brought new insight into Cole’s career. Jay Cocks of Time wrote of Cole, “He wasn’t corrupted by the mainstream. He used jazz to enrich and renew it, and left behind a lasting legacy. Very like a king.”
Selected discography
King Cole Trio, vol.1, 1944.
King Cole Trio, vol. 2, 1946.
King Cole Trio, vol. 3, 1948.
King Cole for Kids, 1948.
King Cole Trio, vol. 4., 1949.
Harvest of Hits, 1950.
Nat King Cole at the Piano, 1950.
Penthouse Serenade, 1952.
Cole’s Top Pops, 1952.
Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love, 1953.
Nat King Cole 10th Anniversary Album, 1955.
Vocal Classics, 1955.
Instrumental Classics, 1955.
Ballads of the Day, 1956.
Piano Style of Nat King Cole, 1956.
After Midnight, 1957.
Love is the Thing, 1957.
This is Nat King Cole, 1957.
Just One of Those Things, 1958.
St. Louis Blues, 1958.
Cole Espanol, 1958.
The Very Thought of You, 1958.
Welcome to the Club, 1959.
To Whom It May Concern, 1959.
A Mis Amigos, 1959.
Everytime I Feel the Spirit, 1959.
Tell Me All About Yourself, 1960.
Wild Is Love, 1960.
Magic of Christmas, 1960.
Touch of Your Lips, 1960.
Nat Cole Story, 1961.
Cole Sings, Shearing Plays, 1962.
Swingin’ Side of Cole, 1962.
More Cole Espagnol, 1962.
Ramblin’Rose, 1962.
Dear Lonely Hearts, 1962.
Where Did Everyone Go?, 1963.
Top Pops, 1963.
Those Lazy, Hazy Crazy Days, 1963.
Let’s Face the Music, 1964.
I Don’t Want to Hurt Anymore, 1964.
My Fair Lady, 1964.
L-O-V-E, 1965.
Cole Sings His Songs from ‘Cat Ballou’, 1965.
The Nat King Cole Story, Vols. 1-3. 1980.
The Complete Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio, 1991.
Sources
Books
Haskins, James, with Kathleen Benson. Nat King Cole. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.
Gourse, Leslie. Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.
Periodicals
American Scholar, Summer 1992, pp. 437-443.
Atlantic, July 1992, pp. 84-86.
Contemporary Musicians, vol.3, 1990, pp. 41-43.
Down Beat, January 27, 1954, p. 2; May 2, 1957, p. 13; May 16, 1957, p. 15.
The Nation, March 5, 1990, pp. 323-324.
New York Times, February 16, 1965, pp. 1, 35; December 22, 1992, sect. 2, pp.26-28.
Saturday Evening Post, July 17, 1954, pp. 30, 104-106.
Time, December 16, 1991, p. 78.
Washington Post, February 17, 1992, p. D2.
—Mary Kalfatovic
-
MLA
-
Chicago
-
APA
Kalfatovic, Mary.
"Cole, Nat King 1919—1965."
Contemporary Black Biography.
1998.
Encyclopedia.com.
2 Jan. 2016
<http://www.encyclopedia.com>
http://www.billboard.com/artist/277002/nat-king-cole/biography
Such controversies do not obscure his real talent as a performer, however. The dismay of jazz fans at his abandonment of jazz must be measured against his accomplishments as a jazz musician. An heir of Earl Hines, whom he studied closely as a child in Chicago, Cole was an influence on such followers as Oscar Peterson. And his trio, emerging in the dying days of the swing era, helped lead the way in small-band jazz. The rage felt by jazz fans as he moved primarily to pop singing is not unlike the anger folk music fans felt when Bob Dylan turned to rock in the mid-'60s; in both cases, it was all the more acute because fans felt one of their leaders, not just another musician, was going over to the enemy. Less well remembered, however, are Cole's accomplishments during and after the transition. His rich, husky voice and careful enunciation, and the warmth, intimacy, and good humor of his approach to singing, allowed him to succeed with both ballads and novelties such that he scored over 100 pop chart singles and more than two dozen chart albums over a period of 20 years, enough to rank him behind only Sinatra as the most successful pop singer of his generation.
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles on Montgomery, AL, on March 17, 1919. (In his early years of music-making, he dispensed with the "s" at the end of his name.) As a black child born to a poor family in the American South at that time, he did not have a birth certificate; his March 17 birthday was recalled because it was also St. Patrick's Day. He listed conflicting years of birth on legal documents during his life; most sources give the year as 1917. (Biographer Daniel Mark Epstein, for his 1999 book Nat King Cole, consulted the 1920 census to determine that the Coles household had a male infant at that time and confirm the birth year as 1919.) Cole's father was a butcher who aspired to the Baptist ministry, and when Cole was four the family moved to Chicago, where his father eventually succeeded in becoming a preacher.
Like his older brother Eddie, who became a bass player, Cole showed an early interest in music. He was taught piano by his mother as a child and later took lessons. Also like his brother, he turned professional early; by his teens, he was leading a band, called either the Royal Dukes or the Rogues of Rhythm, and he dropped out of high school at 15 to go into music full-time. The following year, Eddie, who had been touring with Noble Sissle's band, returned to Chicago and the brothers organized their own sextet. On July 28, 1936, as Eddie Cole's Swingsters, they recorded two singles for Decca Records, Nat King Cole's recording debut. That fall, they were hired to perform in a revival of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle Along. Unlike his brother, Cole remained with the show when it went on tour, in part because his girlfriend, dancer Nadine Robinson, stayed with it as well. The two married in Michigan on January 27, 1937, even though Cole was only 17 years old. The tour made its way around the country, finally closing in Los Angeles in May. Cole and his wife remained there, living at first with her aunt, while Cole sought employment as a musician. He briefly led a big band, then played solo piano in clubs.
While performing at the Café Century during the summer of 1937, Cole was approached by the manager of the Swanee Inn, who invited him to put together a small band to play in the club. With guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince, the act debuted that fall, drawing upon the children's nursery rhyme ("Old King Cole was a merry old soul...") for the name the King Cole Swingsters, later simply the King Cole Trio. The group gradually built up a following, with Cole emerging as a singer as well as a pianist. By September 1938, they had begun making radio transcriptions, originally not intended for commercial release, though they have since been issued. In 1939 and 1940, they made occasional recordings for small labels while expanding their live performing to include appearances across the country and radio work. In late 1940 they were contracted by Decca. Their 1941 recording of Cole's composition "That Ain't Right" hit number one on Billboard magazine's Harlem Hit Parade (i.e., R&B) chart on January 30, 1943, Cole's first successful record. By that time, Prince had left the group to work for the war effort, replaced by Johnny Miller.
The King Cole Trio's contract with Decca expired before "That Ain't Right" became a hit. Their next single, "All for You," was recorded for the tiny Excelsior label in October 1942. After its initial release, it was purchased by Capitol Records and reissued. On November 20, 1943, it became the group's second number one hit on the Harlem Hit Parade. It also crossed over to the pop chart. With that, Capitol signed Cole directly. The trio's first Capitol session produced both the Cole composition "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which topped the black chart for the first of ten weeks on April 29, 1944, spent six weeks at the top of the folk (i.e., country) chart, and reached the Top Ten of the pop chart, and "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," which topped the black chart on October 21 and also crossed over to the pop chart.
The trio placed another four titles in the black chart during 1944, and Capitol released its debut album, The King Cole Trio (catalog number BD-8) that fall. The collection of four 78 rpm discs contained eight tracks, only three of them featuring Cole vocals. When Billboard instituted its first album chart on March 24, 1945, The King Cole Trio was ranked at number one, a position it held for 12 weeks. At the same time, big-band swing music was declining in popularity, and many jazz fans were beginning to turn to the emerging style of bebop, a development that, whatever its artistic significance, spelled the end of jazz as a broadly popular style of music.
The King Cole Trio -- and particularly the singer/pianist then known as "King Cole" -- on the other hand, was going in exactly the opposite direction, as its success on records and at clubs and theaters around the country led to appearances in films and on radio. After numerous guest-star stints on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall radio series, the trio, along with pianist Eddy Duchin, was hired to host the show's summer replacement program for 13 weeks beginning May 16, 1946. During that run, on August 17, The King Cole Trio, Vol. 2 (Capitol BD-29), another set of four 78s, hit number one. Over the next five days, the trio recorded two songs that would add to their pop success. Mel Tormé and Robert Wells' "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" (better known by its opening line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"), recorded August 19, was Cole's first disc to feature strings. "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," though it only featured the trio, demonstrated that Cole was more than capable of handling a straight romantic ballad, not just the uptempo novelties with which he and the group had succeeded up until this point.
"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" became Cole's first number one pop single on December 28, 1946; "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" peaked at number three, going on to become a holiday perennial and million seller. While these hits were developing, the trio went from its summer replacement berth to its own network radio series, King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute Saturday afternoon program that debuted on October 19, 1946, and ran until April 1948. The group's recording schedule during the first half of 1947 was relatively light, but the pace picked up considerably starting in August, in anticipation of the musicians' strike called for January 1, 1948. On August 22, 1947, with an orchestral backing, Cole recorded "Nature Boy," an unusual philosophical ballad. Released March 29, 1948, and credited to "King Cole," it hit number one for the first of eight weeks on May 8, becoming a gold record.
Oscar Moore, the trio's original guitarist, left the group in October 1947 after ten years and was replaced by Irving Ashby. In March 1948, Cole divorced his wife and married singer Marie Ellington. Among the couple's children was Natalie Cole, who became a singer. Bass player Johnny Miller quit the trio in August 1948 and was replaced by Joe Comfort. In February 1949, Cole added percussionist Jack Costanzo to the group, which thereafter was billed as "Nat 'King' Cole & the Trio." As of the spring of 1950, Cole's recordings were being credited simply to "Nat 'King' Cole." On July 8 of that year, his recording of the wistful movie theme "Mona Lisa," featuring a string chart arranged by Nelson Riddle, became Cole's third number one pop hit and gold record.
That September, he traveled to Europe for his first international tour, beginning a pattern that would find him giving concerts almost continually in a combination of top nightclubs in major cities and concert halls around the U.S., with occasional trips to Europe, the Far East, and Latin America and extended stays at Las Vegas casinos. In these appearances, he stood for most of the show, only occasional sitting down to play a number or two at the piano. Ashby and Comfort left in 1951, and an announcement was made that the trio was officially dissolved, but that simply meant that Cole henceforth would be billed as a solo act. In practice, he continued to carry a guitarist, John Collins, and a bassist, Charles Harris, along with Costanzo (until he left in 1953 and was replaced by drummer Lee Young), while often augmenting them with an orchestra.
Cole scored his fourth number one pop hit and gold record with "Too Young," which topped the charts on June 23, 1951. His recording of "Unforgettable" peaked at only number 12 on February 2, 1952, but it went on to become one of his better remembered recordings; in 1991, a version of the song by Natalie Cole with the Nat King Cole recording dubbed onto it became a gold record and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. With his 1952 LP Penthouse Serenade, Cole showed that he was not yet ready to dispense with his jazz chops entirely. The disc was an instrumental collection that spent one week at number ten in the album chart in October. Meanwhile, he was also looking for new challenges, taking on small acting roles in the films The Blue Gardenia and Small Town Girl and the television drama Song for a Banjo in 1953. His 1953 album Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love, arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, was a Top Ten hit in early 1954 that predated similar "concept" albums by Frank Sinatra.
Although Cole did not score a number one hit in 1953 ("Pretend" peaked at number two), his seven chart entries were enough to rank him among the ten most successful singles artists of the year. His five chart singles in 1954, among them the gold-selling Top Ten hit "Answer Me, My Love," allowed him to repeat this ranking the following year, and he did the same thing in 1955 with another eight chart entries, including the Top Ten hits "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," "A Blossom Fell," and "If I May." Nine more chart entries allowed him to stay among the most successful singles artists in 1956, even though none of them reached the Top Ten, and he maintained his rank for the fifth straight year in 1957, reaching the Top Ten (and the top of the R&B chart) with "Send for Me." Though he managed one more Top Ten hit, "Looking Back," in 1958, the rise of rock & roll diminished his success on the singles chart. Meanwhile, he returned to a jazz approach on his 1957 LP After Midnight, which paired his backup group with jazz musicians Harry "Sweets" Edison, Stuff Smith, Willie Smith, and Juan Tizol. It was a modest commercial success, quickly followed by the ballad album Love Is the Thing, arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins, which hit number one for the first of eight weeks on May 27, 1957, and eventually was certified platinum.
Meanwhile, in the fall of 1956, Cole became the first African-American host of a network television series when The Nat "King" Cole Show debuted as a 15-minute weekly program on November 5. The show was expanded to a half-hour in July 1957 and ran until December of that year, though it never attracted a national sponsor that might have made it an ongoing success. Cole attributed advertisers' reticence to racism. He returned to his acting career during 1957, appearing in Istanbul and China Gate, and got his most substantial role in 1958 playing blues musician W.C. Handy in a film biography, St. Louis Blues. His last acting role came in Night of the Quarter Moon in 1959. In 1960, he turned his attention to the theater, putting together a musical revue intended for Broadway. The songs were by Dotty Wayne and Ray Rasch, and the album Cole made of them, Wild Is Love, became his first Top Ten LP in three years. The corresponding stage show, I'm With You, was not as successful, opening what was intended to be a pre-Broadway tour in Denver on October 17, 1960, but closing in Detroit on November 26. Cole, however, salvaged the concept of the show for a stage production he called Sights and Sounds: The Merry World of Nat King Cole, featuring a group of dancers and singers, with which he toured regularly from 1961 to 1964.
Cole returned to the Top Ten of the singles chart for the first time in four years with the country-tinged "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962; his album of the same name also reached the Top Ten and eventually was certified platinum. "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" became his last Top Ten hit in the summer of 1963. In December 1964, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Two months later, he died of it at the age of 45.
After his death, Cole continued to appeal to the two almost mutually exclusive audiences that had appreciated him during his life. Jazz fans continued to treasure his recordings of the 1930s and 1940s and to dismiss the non-jazz recordings he had made later. (In 1994, German discographer Klaus Teubig compiled Straighten Up and Fly Right: A Chronology and Discography of Nat "King" Cole, which pointedly cut off in the early '50s.) Pop fans clamored for reissues of Cole's 1950s and '60s music, awarding gold record status to compilations that Capitol continued to assemble, without much worrying about the singer's talent as a piano player. (And, as his recordings fell into the public domain in Europe, where there is a 50-year copyright limit, a spate of low-quality reissues assumed flood levels.) But the ongoing debate was only testament to Cole's ongoing attraction for music lovers, which, in the decades following his untimely end, showed no signs of abating. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
Natalie Cole: My Father, Nat King Cole, and me
In an archive interview, the singer, who died aged, 65, remembers her father and what it is like to perform his songs
Singer Natalie Cole has died, aged 65. In this interview, recorded in 2014, she discusses her life and career
It may be decades since his death, but Nat King Cole remains one of the
world's most beloved and influential voices, as well as an iconic pop
culture presence whose smooth, confident persona continues to endear him
to new generations of fans.
As a
new documentary, Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark, and an album, Nat
King Cole: The Extraordinary, are released, his daughter, Grammy Award
winner Natalie, remembers him and what it was like to sing his songs.
Nat King Cole conquered the pop charts in the Fifties and early Sixties
as the warm-voiced singer of ballads such as Mona Lisa and
Unforgettable.
But he was also went
on to become the only black television star in Hollywood at a time when
America groaned under the weight of racial segregation and prejudice.
And yet he possessed a natural talent so great
that these issues were seemingly swept to one side to allow him to
become one of the greatest jazz icons of all time.
However, behind closed doors those around him were trying to think of a way to package him as something he was not: bi-white.
Although he was loved by millions, Nat King Cole never strayed far from
his early roots in jazz and R&B. Even after he disbanded his
celebrated jazz-oriented King Cole Trio in order to pursue a solo
career, Cole retained an effortless sense of swing and a fluid rhythmic
sensibility that consistently elevated his music above
middle-of-the-road pop.
The new collection of songs, The
Extraordinary, celebrates the classic crooner through a selection of his
performances, rare unreleased tracks and duets with Dean Martin.
These include The Magic Window, an alternate take of Sleeping Beauty
and the previously unreleased song You're Wrong All Wrong.
Also
featured are Ain't She Sweet and What to Do, recorded in 1954, both of
which find Cole trading vocals with his daughters Carole and Natalie
(whose cross-generational 1991 duet version of Unforgettable helped to
introduce her father to a new generation of listeners).
Nat King Cole: The Extraordinary is out now on Capitol/Universal
Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark is also out now
Watch Trailer for Upcoming Documentary on Music Icon 'Nat King Cole - Afraid of the Dark'
by Vanessa Martinez
Shadow and Act
March 21, 2014
We came across this documentary on the late jazz music icon Nat King Cole after spotting this article, which reports that filmmaker Jon Brewer, helmer of the upcoming film Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark, discovered a previously unreleased track by Cole while doing research for the film.
The title Afraid of the Dark alludes to a time when Madison Avenue was "afraid of the dark" as it was unlikely that a black man - "the only black television star in Hollywood" - was spotlighted prominently on Network television. The documentary, which features interviews with Harry Belafonte, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Aaron Neville and his widow Maria Cole, will be released in the UK on April 14 by Universal Music.
Here's more about the film:
Nat King Cole - Afraid of the Dark Small Poster
Imagine what it would feel like to be the ONLY black television star in Hollywood at a time when the KLU KLUX KLAN acted out violently against BLACK persons, when America groaned under the weight of segregation and prejudice. Imagine being in possession of a natural talent so great, so unique and disarming that these issues were seemingly swept to one side to allow you to perform and be acknowledged for this gift, yet behind closed doors they were trying to think of a way to package you as something you were not: white.
This candid account of the actual happenings in and around the “fairytale” life of fame and fortune of Nat King Cole, are taken from the private journals of Nat King Cole and exclusive interviews with the widow of Nat King Cole, Maria Cole, as well as contributions from other family members, Tony Bennett, Buddy Greco, Harry Bellafonte, Nancy Wilson, Sir Bruce Forsythe, George Benson, Aaron Neville, Johnny Mathis and many more. Some of these shocking stories have never been told before, speaking a wider truth of the national climate at the time, and beg the question “how far have we come?” Director Jon Brewer is given exclusive access to archive held by the estate, which will be revealed for the first time in this film; honouring the man and his journey and the passing of a true icon, but also revealing his feelings behind his ultimate calling as a “beacon of hope” to the legions of the oppressed.
Watch the trailer below:
Shadow and Act
March 21, 2014
We came across this documentary on the late jazz music icon Nat King Cole after spotting this article, which reports that filmmaker Jon Brewer, helmer of the upcoming film Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark, discovered a previously unreleased track by Cole while doing research for the film.
The title Afraid of the Dark alludes to a time when Madison Avenue was "afraid of the dark" as it was unlikely that a black man - "the only black television star in Hollywood" - was spotlighted prominently on Network television. The documentary, which features interviews with Harry Belafonte, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Aaron Neville and his widow Maria Cole, will be released in the UK on April 14 by Universal Music.
Here's more about the film:
Nat King Cole - Afraid of the Dark Small Poster
Imagine what it would feel like to be the ONLY black television star in Hollywood at a time when the KLU KLUX KLAN acted out violently against BLACK persons, when America groaned under the weight of segregation and prejudice. Imagine being in possession of a natural talent so great, so unique and disarming that these issues were seemingly swept to one side to allow you to perform and be acknowledged for this gift, yet behind closed doors they were trying to think of a way to package you as something you were not: white.
This candid account of the actual happenings in and around the “fairytale” life of fame and fortune of Nat King Cole, are taken from the private journals of Nat King Cole and exclusive interviews with the widow of Nat King Cole, Maria Cole, as well as contributions from other family members, Tony Bennett, Buddy Greco, Harry Bellafonte, Nancy Wilson, Sir Bruce Forsythe, George Benson, Aaron Neville, Johnny Mathis and many more. Some of these shocking stories have never been told before, speaking a wider truth of the national climate at the time, and beg the question “how far have we come?” Director Jon Brewer is given exclusive access to archive held by the estate, which will be revealed for the first time in this film; honouring the man and his journey and the passing of a true icon, but also revealing his feelings behind his ultimate calling as a “beacon of hope” to the legions of the oppressed.
Watch the trailer below:
NAT KING COLE - AFRAID OF THE DARK
from Cardinal Releasing Ltd on Vimeo.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/new_documentary_recalls_nat_king_cole_s_racist_neighbors.html
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/05/new_documentary_recalls_nat_king_cole_s_racist_neighbors.html
New Documentary Recalls Nat King Cole’s Racist Neighbors
White Hollywood neighbors who didn’t want the
singer to move into the exclusive Hancock Park neighborhood burned the
n-word into the family’s lawn and killed their dog.
Nat King Cole
Youtube
Youtube
According to a
new documentary set to air on the BBC, Nat King Cole's white Hollywood
neighbors terrorized the singer and his family with racist and
hate-filled acts, including killing their dog and burning the n-word
onto their lawn, The Independent reports.
Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark reveals the hostility that
the Cole family endured after moving into their $65,000 home in the
wealthy neighborhood of Hancock Park in 1948. The exclusive Los Angeles
suburb was home to some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including
Katharine Hepburn, Mae West and Howard Hughes.
According to the British newspaper, the Cole family was largely
despised from the first day they moved in—an event that almost didn't
happen, after neighbors tried to prevent Cole from buying the house.
Once the Cole family moved in, someone burned the n-word onto their lawn
and killed their dog by throwing poisoned meat into the yard, the
newspaper reports.
Music publisher Ivan Mogull tells viewers that Cole's neighbor's
"didn't want black people in the neighborhood, and they did everything
to make him uncomfortable." Cole's friend Harry Belafonte says of Cole
that "nobody wanted him" in the area, the paper reports.
A newspaper clipping shown in the documentary even reported Cole's move with the headline, "Negro to Live in Fashionable Area."
"For us, it was very emotional," singer Natalie Cole, Cole's daughter, told The Independent after watching the documentary.
She noted that racism is still prevalent today. "It is still there,
it's very quiet, it's very subtle and it's in so many different fields,"
she told The Independent. "Even with the election of Barack Obama, I've
never seen such outright blatant disrespect. It's still there. We have a
way to go."
Read more at The Independent.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
Dec 10, 2012
The Jazz Evangelist: Nat King Cole's swing at racism
Nat King Cole
was a man with high hopes. Maybe his star was bright enough to change
television in America; maybe he could use it to break the 1950s colour
barrier on the small screen. So Cole took the chance and signed on with
NBC to star in his own television show in 1956, The Nat King Cole Show.
A year after it started, Cole gave up on his show. He said, "Madison Avenue was afraid of the dark."
Cole's incredible statement came as a result of The Nat King Cole Show's
cancellation. He was a black man with a television show that spanned
America, but Cole, one of the biggest stars of the day, couldn't find a
national sponsor. The reason? The American south.
In the 1950s, companies like Colgate or Lucky Strike
cigarettes would become national TV sponsors and reap the benefits. But
being a national sponsor for a controversial show with a black man as
its star scared off the advertising candidates. Not one company was
willing to risk a boycott of its products in America's southern states.
Cole thought that a high-quality television show with
stars like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Sammy Davis Jr. would win
over an advertiser. The stars thought that their celebrity might help
the cause, too. But advertisers stood on the sidelines like school
children watching a bully beat on one of their friends.
As you can imagine, Cole was devastated. He had failed to
break television's colour barrier. At least he tried. Cole continued in
music, to scoring movie roles and pop hits in the 1960s. For his last
appearance on television in January 1964, he was introduced as "the best
friend a song ever had." Cole died a year later of lung cancer.
The Nat King Cole Show
1956-57
By Jim Davidson
Posted 7/2005
Updated 3/28/2011
1956-57
By Jim Davidson
Posted 7/2005
Updated 3/28/2011
|
"For 13 months, I was the Jackie
Robinson of television," wrote Nat King Cole in a revealing 1958 article
for Ebony magazine. "After a trail-blazing year that shattered all the
old bug-a-boos about Negroes on TV, I found myself standing there with the
bat on my shoulder. The men who dictate what Americans see and hear didn't
want to play ball."
The conventional wisdom about The Nat
King Cole Show is that it was the first network TV program hosted by an
African American, that NBC cancelled it after it failed to attract a sponsor,
and that potential advertisers were reluctant to sign on for fear that their
products would be boycotted by disgruntled Southerners. While based in fact,
none of these statements is exactly true.
At the time of his show's premiere, Nat
Cole was not merely one of the highest paid black people in America but one
of the most successful entertainers in the world, period. His gentle,
romantic style of singing endeared him to millions, and his record sales were
phenomenal. There was every reason to believe that a TV show starring Nat
King Cole would be a huge hit.
There was just one slight problem: with
legal segregation still in full force in the South and de facto segregation
in much of the rest of the country, TV was, with few exceptions, the
exclusive domain of white people. The rare television images of African
Americans tended to be dumb stereotypes like those seen on Amos 'n Andy
and Beulah. Even if some in the industry might have been inclined to
allow blacks to present themselves as intelligent and sophisticated, there
was no telling how the audience might react.
Black hosts had been tried before. Hazel
Scott (in 1950) and Billy Daniels (in 1952) had each starred in a short-lived
and quickly forgotten variety show. But Cole's program was the first hosted
by a star of his magnitude, and expectations were high.
It was obvious that, if Nat were
successful, it would open a lot of doors for other African American
entertainers. There was a whole host of big stars, both black and white, who
wanted to help and were willing to appear on the show for union scale. But
despite the stars and the show's high entertainment value, decent ratings
failed to materialize.
Had the ratings been higher, national
sponsors might have been willing to support the show. But the combination of
a relatively small audience and skittishness about viewer reaction kept them
away. While crediting NBC with keeping the show on the air, Cole felt
advertisers should have had more guts. "When we went on the air last
summer," he wrote, "two big companies were on the verge of buying.
But, at the last moment, somebody said, 'No, we won't take a chance.' Two
other sponsors turned us down cold. I won't call their names, but they were
big, very big. They turned us down and then lost money on inferior
shows."
Carter products, makers of Arrid deodorant
and Rise shaving cream, backed the show for a short time but soon pulled out.
In the absence of a national sponsor, NBC put together a patchwork of local
ones, including Rheingold Beer in New York, Gallo and Thunderbird Wines in
Los Angeles, Regal Beer in New Orleans, and Coca Cola in Houston. But despite
a major push, Cole and NBC just couldn't dispel the notion among big
advertisers that viewers would object to seeing blacks and whites on an equal
footing and that it would hurt the companies' sales - despite the fact that
none of the local sponsors had had a problem. "Madison Avenue [is] the
center of the advertising industry," Cole wrote, "and their big
clients didn't want their products associated with Negroes…Ad Alley thinks
it's still a white man's world."
It seems silly today, but Cole had to be
careful how he related to his guest stars. In the best show biz tradition, he
liked getting physical with his pals, often putting a friendly arm around
them. But he was mindful never to touch the white women on the show. It
wouldn't be an overstatement to say that in some parts of the country, even
at that late date, that would have been a lynching offense. Remember, it had
been just two years since the murder of Emmett Till.
|
That Cole was aware of the situation is
evident in this carefully worded statement: "We proved that a Negro star
could play host to whites, including women, and we proved it in such good
taste that no one was offended…I didn't bend over backwards, but I didn't go
out of my way to offend anyone." (Black women were another story. His
flirting with Eartha Kitt on the October 8, 1957 telecast got so steamy that,
at the close of the show, he felt the need to speak directly to his wife,
assuring her it was all in good fun.)
Despite the controversy behind the scenes,
there was little evidence of it on the show itself. Viewers simply saw and
heard some of the best entertainment television had to offer. Reviewing the
premiere, Variety foresaw "many pleasant quarter-hours to
come" and mentioned "the topgrade quality that's going into the
series." The New York Times called the show "a refreshing
musical diversion" with a host possessing "an amiable personality
that comes across engagingly on the television screen."
While NBC was willing to keep the show
going, Cole decided to call it quits after fourteen months on the air. Two
factors influenced his decision. First, the network wanted to move the show
from Tuesdays at 7:30 to Saturdays at 7:00. Nat felt the move wouldn't help
his ratings, since in some areas, the program would air at 6:00 or even 5:00.
The other reason was that he didn't feel comfortable asking his guest stars
to work for practically nothing. "You can wear out your welcome,"
he commented. "People get tired if you never stop begging."
When the show folded, Cole and NBC
expressed some optimism about reviving it if a national sponsor could be
found, but that never happened. The next African American to try hosting a
program was Sammy Davis Jr. in 1966, but low ratings forced him off the air
after less than four months. It wasn't until The Flip Wilson Show came
along in 1970 that a variety show hosted by a black entertainer became an
unqualified success.
The Episodes
|
| Sources: TV listings in the Los
Angeles Times and New York Times, TV Guide (Northern
California Edition), Variety, Nat King Cole Shows Vol. 1-3
(Portuguese CD import), the J. David Goldin's GOLDINdex database, and the
episodes themselves. I've also consulted the article Cole wrote (with
Lerone Bennett Jr.) for the February 1958 issue of Ebony magazine,
the interview with Cole in the September 7, 1957 issue of TV Guide,
and the discography in the back of the Cole biography by James Haskins with
Kathleen Benson (Stein and Day, 1984). I'm grateful to Jerry Grefenstette
for the information and copies of episodes he provided and to Gary Helton,
station manager of WHFC-FM in Bel Air, MD, for correctly identifying the
bass player in the 11/12/1957 episode. The Nat King Cole Show Producer-Director: Jim Jordan, Bob Henry Executive Producer: Carlos Gastel (Nat's manager) Vocal Group: The Boataneers, The Eddie Beale Singers, The Herman McCoy Singers, The Randy Van Horne Singers, The Jerry Graff Singers, The Cheerleaders Instrumental Accompaniment: Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra, Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra Theme Song: "Shadow Waltz" Closing Theme: "It's Just About That Time Again" (from 11/5/1957 on) |
 |
Information on these 15-minute Cole episodes is somewhat sketchy, as I don't have copies of many of them. Because the shows were so short and rarely had guest stars, TV listings in newspapers and TV Guide usually didn't provide much information. In some cases, I have airdates but no data; in others, I have data but can't pinpoint the dates. What follows is the best I can do for now, until more details become available.
Series
# |
Season
# |
Airdate
|
Guests,
Regulars, and Songs
|
001
|
1-01
|
11/5/1956
|
The Boataneers (4 men, 1
woman), Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
Songs: "Somebody Loves Me," "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" (Nat), "Tea For Two" (Nat vocal/piano and Boataneers), Memory Song: "Unforgettable" (Nat) Note: Nat was appearing at the famous Copacabana in New York, so his first half dozen shows originated from that city. This episode didn't air in Los Angeles. |
002
|
1-02
|
11/12/1956
|
The
Boataneers, Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
Songs: "This Can't Be Love" (Nat), "The End of a Beautiful Friendship" (Nat and Boataneers), "C-U-B-A," Memory Song: "Mona Lisa" (Nat) |
003
|
1-03
|
11/19/1956
|
The Boataneers, Gordon
Jenkins and his Orchestra
Songs: "Thou Swell," "Night Lights," (Nat) "Two Different Worlds" (Nat and Boataneers), "It's Only a Paper Moon" (Nat vocal/piano and his combo), Memory Song: "Early American" (Nat) |
004
|
1-04
|
11/26/1956
|
The Boataneers, Gordon
Jenkins and his Orchestra
Announcer: Bill Hanrahan Songs: "To the Ends of the Earth" (Nat and Boataneers), "My Foolish Heart" (Nat), "Sweet Sue, Just You" (Nat and Boataneers), "Stella By Starlight" (Nat on piano), "Love Letters" (Nat and Boataneers), "Street of Dreams" (Jenkins Orchestra) Note: Nat does a mostly Victor Young program, in tribute to the songwriter who passed away 16 days earlier. |
005
|
1-05
|
12/3/1956
|
The Boataneers, Gordon
Jenkins and his Orchestra
Songs: "I'm Shooting High," "Autumn Leaves" (Nat), "Just One Of Those Things" (Nat on piano), Memory Song: "There Goes My Heart" (Nat) |
006
|
1-06
|
12/10/1956
|
Unidentified vocal
group, Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra
Songs: "Little Girl," Medley: "Repeat After Me"/"True Love" (Nat and vocal group), "Too Marvelous For Words" (Nat vocal/piano and his combo), Memory Song: "Too Young" (Nat) |
007
|
1-07
|
12/17/1956
|
The Eddie Beale Singers,
Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "When You're Smiling," (Nat and Beale Singers), "Night Lights" (Nat), "Take Me Back to Toyland," (Nat and Beale Singers), "Just in Time," Memory Song: "Somewhere Along the Way" (Nat) Note: With this episode, airing in color, Nat moved his show from New York to Hollywood. |
008
|
1-08
|
12/24/1956
|
Unidentified vocal group,
Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "A House With Love In It," "Mrs. Santa Claus," "Jingle Bells" (Nat and vocal group), Memory Song: "The Christmas Song" (Nat), "Silent Night" (vocal group) Note: Nat's daughters Cookie (Carol) and Sweetie (Natalie) show up at the close of the show. |
009
|
1-09
|
12/31/1956
|
Nelson Riddle and his
Orchestra
Songs: "Almost Like Being in Love," "Route 66," "Love Me Tender," "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" (Nat) Note: This show originated from Hollywood and aired in color. |
010
|
1-10
|
1/7/1957
|
Unidentified vocal group,
unidentified orchestra
Songs: "Thou Swell," "You Stepped Out Of a Dream," "Two Different Worlds," "Crazy Rhythm" |
011
|
1-11
|
1/14/1957
|
Stuff Smith, The Herman
McCoy Singers (4 men, 4 women), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra Songs: "Pick Yourself Up," "Somebody Loves Me," "Love Me Tender" (Nat) "I Know That You Know" (Nat and his combo with Stuff), Memory Song: "A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet" Note: Violinist Stuff Smith was Nat's first guest. They had played together on Nat’s "After Midnight" album, recorded in 1956. |
012
|
1-12
|
1/21/1957
|
The Herman McCoy Singers
(3 men, 3 women), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Announcer: Vince Pelletier Songs: "Just in Time" (Nat vocal/piano), "Jealous Lover" (Nat and McCoy Singers), "You Are My First Love" (Nat), "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)" (Nat and McCoy Singers), Memory Song: "Ballerina" (Nat) Note: This episode was sponsored Carter Products, with commercials for Arrid deodorant and Rise shaving cream. At the close of the show, Nat announces that he'll be leaving the next day for New York City, where he'll be appearing "this coming Wednesday" for one week at the Paramount Theater. |
013
|
1-13
|
1/28/1957
|
Count Basie, The
Boataneers (4 men, 1 woman), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Announcer: Bill Hanrahan Songs: "I'm Sitting On Top of the World," "This Can't Be Love" (Nat), "Namely You" (Nat and Boataneers), "Lady Be Good" (Nat sings and Basie plays piano, then Nat and Basie alternate on piano), Memory Song: "September Song" (Nat and Boataneers) Note: Ella Fitzgerald was to have joined the guest roster but cancelled due to illness. Nat tells viewers to watch 21 with Charles Van Doren, the infamous quiz show and contestant soon caught up in one of the biggest scandals in TV history. This show originated from New York. |
014
|
1-14
|
2/4/1957
|
Unidentified vocal
group, unidentified orchestra
Songs: "You're the Top," "But Not For Me," "You Are My First Love" (Nat), "Just You, Just Me" (Nat vocal/piano and his combo - probably John Collins, guitar; Charlie Harris, bass; Lee Young, drums), Memory Song: "There Will Never Be Another You" (Nat) Note: Nat was appearing at The Tropicana in Havana for two weeks, and this show originated from Miami. Nat mentions that his new sponsor is America's largest-selling deodorant (probably Arrid). |
015
|
1-15
|
2/11/1957
|
Unidentified vocal group,
Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "That's My Girl" (Nat), "Coquette," "True Love" (Nat and vocal group), "Tea For Two" (Nat on piano), Memory Song: "My Funny Valentine" (Nat) Note: This show originated from Miami. |
016
|
1-16
|
2/18/1957
|
The Boataneers (4 men, 1
woman), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "I'm Shooting High" (Nat), "Blueberry Hill" (Nat and Boataneers), "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face," "Ballerina," Memory Song: "Pretend" (Nat) Note: This show features commercials for Arrid and Rise. |
017
|
1-17
|
2/25/1957
|
Unidentified vocal
group, Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "Should I?" (Nat), "It All Depends On You," "Namely You" (Nat and vocal group), "This Is My Night To Dream" (Nat vocal/piano with his combo), Memory Song: "Unforgettable" (Nat) |
018
|
1-18
|
3/4/1957
|
No details known
|
019
|
1-19
|
3/11/1957
|
No details known
|
020
|
1-20
|
3/18/1957
|
No details known
|
021
|
1-21
|
3/25/1957
|
Maria Cole (Nat's wife)
Song: "You're Getting To Be a Habit With Me" (Nat and Maria) Note: This show originated from Hollywood. Maria Cole, under the name "Marie Ellington," had a moderately successful career with Duke Ellington (no relation) and as a solo singer. |
022
|
1-22
|
4/1/1957
|
Song:
"Stardust"
|
023
|
1-23
|
4/8/1957
|
No details known
|
024
|
1-24
|
4/15/1957
|
No details known
|
025
|
1-25
|
4/22/1957
|
No details known
|
026
|
1-26
|
4/29/1957
|
No details known
|
027
|
1-27
|
5/6/1957
|
Songs: "Sweet
Lorraine," "Lucky Day," "Stay As Sweet As You Are"
|
028
|
1-28
|
5/13/1957
|
No details known
|
029
|
1-29
|
5/20/1957
|
No details known
|
030
|
1-30
|
5/27/1957
|
No details known
|
031
|
1-31
|
6/3/1957
|
No details known
|
032
|
1-32
|
6/10/1957
|
No details known
|
033
|
1-33
|
6/17/1957
|
No details known
|
034
|
1-34
|
6/24/1957
|
No details known
|
Series
# |
Season
# |
Airdate
|
Guests,
Regulars, and Songs
|
The Randy Van Horne
Singers (4 men, 2 women), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "My Blue Heaven," "Old Folks" (Nat and Van Horne Singers), "Down By the Old Mill Stream," (Randy Van Horne Singers), "Kee-mo Ky-Mo" (Nat), "When Rock 'n Roll Came to Trinidad," Memory Song: "Home" (Nat and Van Horne Singers) Note: Nat dedicated this show "to every member of the American family - yours and mine." |
|||
The Randy Van Horne
Singers (3 men, 2 women), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "Lucky Day" (Nat and Van Horne Singers), "Stay As Sweet As You Are" (Nat), "Sometimes I'm Happy" (Nat with Combo - probably John Collins, guitar; Joe Comfort, bass; Lee Young, drums), "Caravan" (Nat with Combo - same musicians plus Juan Tizol, trombone; Jack Constanzo, bongos), Memory Song: "Shadow Waltz" (Nat and Van Horne Singers) Note: This show featured members of the backstage crew: Jim Kilgore (lighting), Raoul Murphy (audio), Joe Conn (technical director), and Sid Rushakoff (art director). |
|||
Unidentified vocal
group, Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "Chicago," "Where or When" (Nat and vocal group), "Tea for Two" (Nat on piano), Memory Song: "There Will Never Be Another You" (Nat) Note: Nat was appearing at Chez Paree in Chicago and did this show from that city. He shows the audience the June 1957 issue of Ebony magazine which features an article about the movie China Gate (in which Nat appears) and introduces a clip from it. |
|||
Lurlean Hunter,
unidentified vocal group, unidentified orchestra
Song: "Muskrat Ramble" (Nat and vocal group), "Sweet Lorraine" (Nat with combo), "It Never Entered My Mind" (Lurlean), "Too Marvelous for Words" (Lurlean and Nat with Nat on piano), Memory Song: "Love Letters" (Nat) Note: This episode originated from Chicago |
|||
The Randy Van Horne
Singers (3 men, 2 women), unidentified orchestra
Songs: "It Was Just One of Those Things" (Nat and Van Horne Singers), "Easy to Love," "The Party's Over" (Nat), "When Rock 'n Roll Came to Trinidad", Memory Song: "The Sand and the Sea" (Nat and Van Horne Singers) Note: Nat was appearing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas but flew in to Hollywood for his TV show. |
|||
Harry Warren, The Randy
Van Horne Singers (3 men, 2 women), unidentified orchestra
Songs: "Lulu's Back in Town," "Lullaby of Broadway," "September in the Rain" (Nat and Van Horne Singers), "We're in the Money" (Van Horne Singers with Harry at the piano), "With Plenty of Money and You" (Nat and Van Horne Singers), Memory Song: "You'll Never Know" (Nat) |
|||
The Randy Van Horne
Singers (3 men, 2 women), Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra
Songs: "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" (Nat and vocal group), "So Long, My Love," "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" (Nat), "Crazy Rhythm" (Nat vocal/piano and his combo - probably John Collins, guitar; Charlie Harris, bass; Lee Young, drums), Memory Song: "Red Sails in the Sunset" (Nat and vocal group) Note: In the show's opening, Nat announces that they'll be doing the show "just as though we were coming to you from the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, where I'm currently appearing." |
|||
Unidentified vocal
group, unidentified orchestra
Songs: "Almost Like Being in Love," "Anything Goes," "It's All in the Game" (Nat), "Where or When" (Nat and vocal group), Memory Song: "Love is the Thing" (Nat) Note: This episode appears to immediately follow the one above. The theme is outdoor Las Vegas (as opposed to the previous week's Copa Room theme), and the backdrop consists of films and still photos of that city's streets, night clubs, and other sites. |
30-Minute Episodes (Tuesday, 10:00-10:30 pm)
In July 1957, NBC gave Nat a half hour to work with and moved him to Tuesday nights. The hour was a bit late for this kind of show, but both parties expressed optimism that a regular national sponsor could be found. Variety liked seeing more of Nat but felt the extra minutes gave him more time to clown around - something that wasn't his forte. It wanted more music and less comedy.
Series
# |
Season
# |
Airdate
|
Guests,
Regulars, and Songs
|
THE MUSIC OF NAT KING COLE: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. COLE:
The Piano Style of Nat King Cole:
Nat "King" Cole at the piano with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra switching solos with each other
TRACKS:
01 Love Walked In
02 My Heart Stood Still
03 Imagination
04 I Never Knew
05 Stella by Starlight
06 (What Can I Say) After I Say I'm Sorry-
07 I Didn't Know What Time It Was
08 Taking a Chance on Love
09 April in Paris
10 I Want to Be Happy
01 Love Walked In
02 My Heart Stood Still
03 Imagination
04 I Never Knew
05 Stella by Starlight
06 (What Can I Say) After I Say I'm Sorry-
07 I Didn't Know What Time It Was
08 Taking a Chance on Love
09 April in Paris
10 I Want to Be Happy
Lester Young- Lester Young Trio- FULL ALBUM 1951:
Tracks 1 - 10: Lester Young: ts // Nat King Cole: Piano // Buddy Rich: Drums//
THE JAZZ GREATS: NAT KING COLE ("It's Only a Paper Moon" & "Sweet Lorraine"):
Nat King Cole (piano & vocals)
Nat King Cole Trio:
- 3/42 videos
The very best of Nat King Cole:
Tracks
1. 00:00 Unforgettable
2. 03:27 LOVE
3. 05:59 Too young
4. 09:23 Autumn leaves
5. 12:03 Quizás, quizás, quizás
6. 14:48 Tenderly
7. 17:45 The Christmas Song
8. 20:54 Fascination
9. 23:22 Love is a many splendored thing
10. 26:02 People
11. 28:38 Arrividerci Roma
12. 31:23 In the good old summer time
13. 32:54 When you're smiling
14. 35:36 Fly me to the moon
15. 38:07 Nature boy
16. 42:01 Smile
17. 44:54 Pretend
18. 47:38 When I fall in love
19. 50:48 Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer
20. 53:12 Let's fall in love
Nat King Cole Greatest Hits Full Album - Nat King Cole's 30 Biggest Songs:I
Tracks:
01. Nat King Cole - Embraceable You
02. Nat King Cole - Nature Boy
03. Nat King Cole - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down
04. Nat King Cole - Too Young
05. Nat King Cole - Ramblin' Rose
06. Nat King Cole - Pretend
07. Nat King Cole - Send For Me
08. Nat King Cole - A Blossom Fell
09. Nat King Cole - Looking Back
10. Nat King Cole - Orange Colored Sky
11. Nat King Cole - Mona Lisa
12. Nat King Cole - Unforgettable
13. Nat King Cole - Route 66
14. Nat King Cole - For Sentimental Reasons
15. Nat King Cole - Straighten Up and Fly Right
16. Nat King Cole - Lost April
17. Nat King Cole - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
18. Nat King Cole - Azure-Te
19. Nat King Cole - You Did It
20. Nat King Cole - Miss Otis Regrets
21. Nat King Cole - The Touch Of Your Lips
22. Nat King Cole - Papa Loves Mambo
23. Nat King Cole - Lush Life
24. Nat King Cole - Cold, Cold Heart
25. Nat King Cole - I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
26. Nat King Cole - The Continental
27. Nat King Cole - Show Me
28. Nat King Cole - Where Or When
29. Nat King Cole - Fly Me To The Moon
30. Nat King Cole - Beggar For The Blues
Nat King Cole: "The Very Thought of You"-- Remastered Full Album:
01 The Very Thought of You
02 But Beautiful
03 Impossible
04 I Wish I Knew the Way to Your Heart
05 I Found a Million Dollar Baby [In a Five and Ten Cent Store]
06 Magnificent Obsession
07 My Heart Tells Me [Should I Believe My Heart]
08 Paradise
09 This Is All I Ask
10 Cherie, I Love You
11 Making Believe You're Here
12 Cherchez La Femme
13 For All We Know
14 The More I See You
02 But Beautiful
03 Impossible
04 I Wish I Knew the Way to Your Heart
05 I Found a Million Dollar Baby [In a Five and Ten Cent Store]
06 Magnificent Obsession
07 My Heart Tells Me [Should I Believe My Heart]
08 Paradise
09 This Is All I Ask
10 Cherie, I Love You
11 Making Believe You're Here
12 Cherchez La Femme
13 For All We Know
14 The More I See You
Best Songs Of Nat King Cole || Nat King Cole's Greatest Hits (Full Album 2015):
Nat King Cole-- "An Evening With Nat King Cole"-- HD:
Here it is the Complete wold famous BBC TV special from September 1963 by Nat King Cole in HD resolution.
Nat King Cole - "For Sentimental Reasons" - Legends In Concert:
One
outstanding performance, including twenty-seven truly great tracks such
as 'For Sentimental Reasons,' 'Is You Is Or Is Ain't You My Baby' and
'Mona Lisa' performed by the undisputed king of melody, Nat King Cole.
Nat King Cole was an American musician, who first got noticed as a leading jazz pianist and later performed in big band and jazz genres. Featuring selected excerpts of his top rated television shows, this program will transport you into a different era and allow you to watch and listen to the fantastic performance and timeless voice of an absolute legend.
Tracks:
1. Mona Lisa
2. Nature Boy
3. That's My Girl
4. I'm a Shy Guy
5. The Trouble with Me Is You
6. Little Girl
7. For Sentimental Reasons
8. Calypso Blues
9. Route 66
10. Because of Rain
11. Too Young
12. This is My Night to Dream
13. Home
14. You Call it Madness
15. Errand Boy for Rhythm
16. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
17. Got a Penny, Benny
18. Come to Baby Do
19. Sweet Lorraine
20. Who's Been Eating my Porridge?
21. Frim Fram Sauce
22. Always You
23. Now He Tells Me
24. Solid Potato Salad
25. Breezy and the Bass
26. It's Better to be by Yourself
27. Oh, Kickeroony
Nat King Cole was an American musician, who first got noticed as a leading jazz pianist and later performed in big band and jazz genres. Featuring selected excerpts of his top rated television shows, this program will transport you into a different era and allow you to watch and listen to the fantastic performance and timeless voice of an absolute legend.
Tracks:
1. Mona Lisa
2. Nature Boy
3. That's My Girl
4. I'm a Shy Guy
5. The Trouble with Me Is You
6. Little Girl
7. For Sentimental Reasons
8. Calypso Blues
9. Route 66
10. Because of Rain
11. Too Young
12. This is My Night to Dream
13. Home
14. You Call it Madness
15. Errand Boy for Rhythm
16. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
17. Got a Penny, Benny
18. Come to Baby Do
19. Sweet Lorraine
20. Who's Been Eating my Porridge?
21. Frim Fram Sauce
22. Always You
23. Now He Tells Me
24. Solid Potato Salad
25. Breezy and the Bass
26. It's Better to be by Yourself
27. Oh, Kickeroony
Nat King Cole, Unforgettable Songs:
Nat King Cole sings "When I Fall in Love":
"Smile" - Nat King Cole:
(Famous musical composition and lyrics by Charlie Chaplin). The music was first performed in Chaplin's great 1936 film "Modern Times". With Nat's incomparable singing performance of Chaplin's song this is a shining example of one genius complementing another!
Nat King Cole "After Midnight" full album plus bonus album with Jack Costanzo with new stereo sound:
From the Archives
Nat 'King' Cole dies of cancer at 45
Nat "King" Cole, 45, world-renowned singer
and jazz pianist, died in his sleep at St. John's Hospital in Santa
Monica early Monday, three weeks after he had undergone surgery for
removal of a cancerous left lung.
His wife Maria, who was at his side, "knew for several days he was dying," a hospital spokesman said, "but she didn't want anything made public because he watched television constantly."
Aware that he had cancer, the singer thought he was recovering after the removal of his lung, but doctors said the disease had spread beyond control.
Only the day before his death, Cole was taken for a short ride in his car by his wife, and a few days earlier he had visited his children briefly at the family home, an imposing brick mansion at 401 S. Muirfield Road in the Hancock Park district.
Visitors Barred
Visitors were not permitted in Cole's sixth-floor hospital room. But last week, when comedian Jack Benny was visiting another friend, he inquired about Cole, and the singer invited him in for a 15-minute chat.
Interviews were not allowed, but because of worldwide interest in the singer's recovery, Mrs. Cole wrote and released her own optimistic statements — as if they had come from him.
The singer's father, the Rev. Edward B. Coles of North Chicago, died two weeks ago in Chicago.
"We had to tell Nat, and I guess it made him turn for the worse," his brother Eddie said in Honolulu. "He loved our dad. We could see him change right then."
Mother Died in 1955
Cole's mother, Perlina, died at the age of 61 in Chicago in 1955, of cancer.
Funeral services for the singer have not been completed, but a family spokesman said they probably will be private, at 11 a.m. Thursday in St. James Episcopal Church, 3903 Wilshire Blvd., with the Angelus Funeral Home in charge.
An outpouring of his admirers is expected Wednesday, however, when the sealed casket will be on view to the public in the church from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The first intimation of Cole's illness came late last fall when he was forced to cancel an engagement at the Sands in Las Vegas because of what was described as a "respiratory ailment."
On Dec. 9, two days before he was to have presented the inaugural popular music and jazz concert at The Music Center, he was taken to St. John's Hospital, where X-rays disclosed the lung tumor. Cobalt treatments were initiated.
Frank Sinatra substituted for him with an all-star cast, as "King Cole Salutes The Music Center" drew a capacity crowd to The Pavilion on Dec. 11.
When the serious nature of Cole's illness was disclosed, he was deluged with mail, telegrams and calls — more than had been received by anyone else in the hospital, which often has celebrity patients.
Dies in Sleep
Although his condition took a sharp turn for the worse two days ago, Cole was cheerful and alert Sunday, the hospital said. Death came quietly in his sleep. He was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m.
The entertainment world was stunned, because Mrs. Cole had succeeded in keeping his true condition secret from the public — and from him.
Besides his wife he leaves three daughters, Natalie, 15, and twins Timolin and Casey, 3; two adopted children, Carol, 20, and Nat Kelly, 6; three brothers, Eddie in Honolulu, Fred in New York City and Ike in Chicago, and a sister, Miss Evelyn Cole, of Chicago.
Council Adjourns
Mrs. Cole has requested memorial tribute donations be made to the Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Foundation, 219 E. 42nd St., New York City, or the California Institute for Cancer Research at UCLA.
The City Council adjourned in Cole's memory Monday. The Board of Supervisors ordered flags of The Music Center, of which Cole was a Founder, lowered to half-staff.
Nat Cole's life was one of fluctuating economic extremes, but at the end he could command $20,000 a week.
Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Ala., the son of a Baptist minister, he was taken to Chicago at the age of 4. He dropped the "s" from his name in early entertainment billings.
"Mom was the only music teacher I ever had," he once said — recalling that he played "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on a piano when he was 4.
After playing in a high school dance band, he went to California with a revue, "Shuffle Along," that went broke in Long Beach in 1937.
While he was with the show he married Nadine Robinson, a dancer. They were divorced in 1946.
After the revue folded in 1937, Cole said he "played piano at almost every beer joint from San Diego to Bakersfield" until he got a job for a jazz quartet at the Swanee in Hollywood.
The drummer never showed up but the famous Nat King Cole Trio was born.
Name Stuck
Oscar Moore was on guitar and Wesley Prince on string bass, and they created a style that set generations to swinging.
Legend has it that an inebriated customer once jammed a paper hat onto the pianist's head, and proclaimed, "Look! King Cole!" The name stuck.
And later, another barfly is said to have ordered Cole to sing, "Sweet Lorraine."
"We don't sing," Nat said.
'Natural Boy' a Hit
The manager whispered that the man was a big spender — so the satin voice that was to capture a world of listeners was first heard publicly.
Cole's first hit recording was his own "Straighten Up and Fly Right" in 1943 for Liberty Records (now Capitol), and he was on his way.
His wedding to Maria Ellington, a vocalist in the Duke Ellington band — but no relation to the leader — was a $17,500 social event in 1947, at a time when the King was riding high on his recording of the haunting "Nature Boy."
In 1948, Cole was philosophical about race discrimination dogging him even into the high-rent district. When he and his bride bought their $65,000 Tudor mansion in Hancock Park, an attorney for nearby property owners said, "We don't want undesirable people coming here."
"Neither do I," Cole said, "and if I see anybody undesirable coming into this neighborhood, I'll be the first to complain."
Attacked on Stage
But in 1951, the government seized the house, charging Cole with being $150,000 in arrears on taxes. He set a goal of paying off the debt at $1,000 a week, and kept the house.
His wife Maria, who was at his side, "knew for several days he was dying," a hospital spokesman said, "but she didn't want anything made public because he watched television constantly."
Aware that he had cancer, the singer thought he was recovering after the removal of his lung, but doctors said the disease had spread beyond control.
Only the day before his death, Cole was taken for a short ride in his car by his wife, and a few days earlier he had visited his children briefly at the family home, an imposing brick mansion at 401 S. Muirfield Road in the Hancock Park district.
Visitors Barred
Visitors were not permitted in Cole's sixth-floor hospital room. But last week, when comedian Jack Benny was visiting another friend, he inquired about Cole, and the singer invited him in for a 15-minute chat.
Interviews were not allowed, but because of worldwide interest in the singer's recovery, Mrs. Cole wrote and released her own optimistic statements — as if they had come from him.
The singer's father, the Rev. Edward B. Coles of North Chicago, died two weeks ago in Chicago.
"We had to tell Nat, and I guess it made him turn for the worse," his brother Eddie said in Honolulu. "He loved our dad. We could see him change right then."
Mother Died in 1955
Cole's mother, Perlina, died at the age of 61 in Chicago in 1955, of cancer.
Funeral services for the singer have not been completed, but a family spokesman said they probably will be private, at 11 a.m. Thursday in St. James Episcopal Church, 3903 Wilshire Blvd., with the Angelus Funeral Home in charge.
An outpouring of his admirers is expected Wednesday, however, when the sealed casket will be on view to the public in the church from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The first intimation of Cole's illness came late last fall when he was forced to cancel an engagement at the Sands in Las Vegas because of what was described as a "respiratory ailment."
On Dec. 9, two days before he was to have presented the inaugural popular music and jazz concert at The Music Center, he was taken to St. John's Hospital, where X-rays disclosed the lung tumor. Cobalt treatments were initiated.
Frank Sinatra substituted for him with an all-star cast, as "King Cole Salutes The Music Center" drew a capacity crowd to The Pavilion on Dec. 11.
When the serious nature of Cole's illness was disclosed, he was deluged with mail, telegrams and calls — more than had been received by anyone else in the hospital, which often has celebrity patients.
Dies in Sleep
Although his condition took a sharp turn for the worse two days ago, Cole was cheerful and alert Sunday, the hospital said. Death came quietly in his sleep. He was pronounced dead at 5:30 a.m.
The entertainment world was stunned, because Mrs. Cole had succeeded in keeping his true condition secret from the public — and from him.
Besides his wife he leaves three daughters, Natalie, 15, and twins Timolin and Casey, 3; two adopted children, Carol, 20, and Nat Kelly, 6; three brothers, Eddie in Honolulu, Fred in New York City and Ike in Chicago, and a sister, Miss Evelyn Cole, of Chicago.
Council Adjourns
Mrs. Cole has requested memorial tribute donations be made to the Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Foundation, 219 E. 42nd St., New York City, or the California Institute for Cancer Research at UCLA.
The City Council adjourned in Cole's memory Monday. The Board of Supervisors ordered flags of The Music Center, of which Cole was a Founder, lowered to half-staff.
Nat Cole's life was one of fluctuating economic extremes, but at the end he could command $20,000 a week.
Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Ala., the son of a Baptist minister, he was taken to Chicago at the age of 4. He dropped the "s" from his name in early entertainment billings.
"Mom was the only music teacher I ever had," he once said — recalling that he played "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on a piano when he was 4.
After playing in a high school dance band, he went to California with a revue, "Shuffle Along," that went broke in Long Beach in 1937.
While he was with the show he married Nadine Robinson, a dancer. They were divorced in 1946.
After the revue folded in 1937, Cole said he "played piano at almost every beer joint from San Diego to Bakersfield" until he got a job for a jazz quartet at the Swanee in Hollywood.
The drummer never showed up but the famous Nat King Cole Trio was born.
Name Stuck
Oscar Moore was on guitar and Wesley Prince on string bass, and they created a style that set generations to swinging.
Legend has it that an inebriated customer once jammed a paper hat onto the pianist's head, and proclaimed, "Look! King Cole!" The name stuck.
And later, another barfly is said to have ordered Cole to sing, "Sweet Lorraine."
"We don't sing," Nat said.
'Natural Boy' a Hit
The manager whispered that the man was a big spender — so the satin voice that was to capture a world of listeners was first heard publicly.
Cole's first hit recording was his own "Straighten Up and Fly Right" in 1943 for Liberty Records (now Capitol), and he was on his way.
His wedding to Maria Ellington, a vocalist in the Duke Ellington band — but no relation to the leader — was a $17,500 social event in 1947, at a time when the King was riding high on his recording of the haunting "Nature Boy."
In 1948, Cole was philosophical about race discrimination dogging him even into the high-rent district. When he and his bride bought their $65,000 Tudor mansion in Hancock Park, an attorney for nearby property owners said, "We don't want undesirable people coming here."
"Neither do I," Cole said, "and if I see anybody undesirable coming into this neighborhood, I'll be the first to complain."
Attacked on Stage
But in 1951, the government seized the house, charging Cole with being $150,000 in arrears on taxes. He set a goal of paying off the debt at $1,000 a week, and kept the house.
Two years later, from the pressure of the
pace he set for himself, he collapsed of acute ulcers and internal
hemorrhaging during an Easter concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Surgeons removed half his stomach.
The
singer tried to live a more leisurely pace after that, but the times
vaulted him into headlines again when six white men attacked him on a
stage at Birmingham, Ala., in 1956 before an audience of 4,000.
Although he gave freely of himself in benefit performances for
civil rights groups, there were still some who complained he wasn't
militant enough.
"A celebrity can overplay his hand talking too much," he said, "when there ought to be more doing and less talking."
A
personal friend and White House guest of Presidents Kennedy and
Johnson, Cole was outspoken on the race issue. He bemoaned an age that
accepted Negro entertainers "as no threat to anybody," while Negro
doctors, lawyers and educators were denied similar recognition.
Cole
launched a television show that drew tremendous ratings and reviews,
but closed in 1957 after 64 weeks because national advertisers would not
then back a Negro, he said.
Had Many Fans
He
stayed with it despite financial losses, drawing the biggest "guest"
names in entertainment, who agreed to appear far below the price they
usually received — hoping to make a success of it.
His
international following was no less than it was in America. Once when
then Vice President Richard M. Nixon was met with violent demonstrations
in Caracas, Venezuela, Cole followed a few days later and was welcomed
by an enthusiastic crowd of 16,000 at the airport.
He met similar
acclaim in Europe (he played in a command performance for Queen
Elizabeth in 1960), in the Middle East and the Orient.
His income was estimated at $500,000 annually, and his record sales reached more than 50 million.
Cole,
an inveterate cigaret and pipe smoker, gave up cigarets for several
months last year but had returned to them before he was admitted to the
hospital.
Among his all-time best-selling records were "Mona
Lisa," "Too Young," "For Sentimental Reasons," "Pretend," "Answer Me My
Love," "Rambling Rose," "Christmas Song" and "Smile."
The messages
of condolence poured in Monday from the great and the nameless for a
man they regarded as fitting his own words the best of all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_King_Cole
Nat King Cole
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nat King Cole | |
|---|---|
Cole c. June 1947
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Nathaniel Adams Coles |
| Also known as | Nat Cole |
| Born | March 17, 1919 Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | February 15, 1965 (aged 45) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Vocal jazz, swing, traditional pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Piano, vocals, organ |
| Years active | 1935–65 |
| Labels | Capitol |
| Associated acts | Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin |
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres and which he used to become a major force in popular music for three decades, producing many hit songs.
Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a national television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965.
Contents
Early life
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919.[1] Cole had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy
(born 1931), and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of Cole's brothers
would later pursue careers in music as well. When Cole was four years
old,[2] he and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance was of "Yes! We Have No Bananas" at age four. He began formal lessons at 12, eventually learning not only jazz and gospel music, but also Western classical music, performing, as he said, "from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff".
The family lived in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where he attended Wendel Phillips High School (the same school Sam Cooke
would attend a few years later). Cole would sneak out of the house and
hang around outside the clubs, listening to artists such as Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and Jimmie Noone. He participated in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School.
Career
Inspired by the performances of Earl Hines, Cole began his performing
career in the mid-1930s while still a teenager, adopting the name Nat Cole. His older brother, Eddie, a bass player,
soon joined Cole's band, and they made their first recording in 1936
under Eddie's name. They also were regular performers at clubs. Cole
acquired his nickname, "King", performing at one jazz club, a nickname
presumably reinforced by the otherwise unrelated nursery rhyme about "Old King Cole". He also was a pianist in a national tour of Eubie Blake's revue Shuffle Along. When it suddenly failed in Long Beach, California, Cole decided to remain there. He would later return to Chicago in triumph to play such venues as the Edgewater Beach Hotel.
Los Angeles and the King Cole Trio
Cole and two other musicians formed the "King Cole Swingsters" in
Long Beach and played in a number of local bars before getting a gig on
the Long Beach Pike for US$90 ($1,535 today) per week. The trio consisted of Cole on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Wesley Prince
on double bass. The trio played in Failsworth throughout the late 1930s
and recorded many radio transcriptions for Capitol Transcriptions.[3] Cole was not only pianist but leader of the combo as well.
Radio was important to the King Cole Trio's rise in popularity. Their first broadcast was with NBC's Blue Network in 1938. It was followed by appearances on NBC's Swing Soiree. In the 1940s, the trio appeared on the Old Gold, The Chesterfield Supper Club and Kraft Music Hall radio shows. The King Cole Trio performed twice on CBS Radio's variety show The Orson Welles Almanac (1944).[4][5]
Legend was that Cole's singing career did not start until a drunken barroom patron demanded that he sing "Sweet Lorraine".
Cole, in fact, has gone on record saying that the fabricated story
"sounded good, so I just let it ride." Cole frequently sang in between
instrumental numbers. Noticing that people started to request more vocal
numbers, he obliged. Yet the story of the insistent customer is not
without some truth. There was a customer who requested a certain song
one night, but it was a song that Cole did not know, so instead he sang
"Sweet Lorraine". The trio was tipped 15 cents ($0.85 today) for the
performance, a nickel apiece.[6]
The Capitol Records Building, known as "The House That Nat Built"
During World War II, Wesley Prince left the group and Cole replaced him with Johnny Miller. Miller would later be replaced by Charlie Harris in the 1950s. The King Cole Trio signed with the fledgling Capitol Records in 1943. The group had previously recorded for Excelsior Records, owned by Otis René, and had a hit with the song "I'm Lost", which René wrote, produced and distributed.[7]
Revenues from Cole's record sales fueled much of Capitol Records'
success during this period. The revenue is believed to have played a
significant role in financing the distinctive Capitol Records building
near Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles. Completed in 1956, it was the world's first circular office building and became known as "The House that Nat Built".
Cole was considered a leading jazz pianist, appearing in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts (credited on the Mercury Record label as "Shorty Nadine"—derived from his wife's name—as he was under exclusive contract to Capitol Records at the time).[8]
His revolutionary lineup of piano, guitar, and bass in the time of the
big bands became a popular setup for a jazz trio. It was emulated by
many musicians, among them Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, and blues pianists Charles Brown and Ray Charles. He also performed as a pianist on sessions with Lester Young, Red Callender, and Lionel Hampton. For contract reasons, Cole was credited as "Aye Guy" on the album The Lester Young Buddy Rich Trio.
Success
"I started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started
singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out."
— Nat King Cole, Voice of America interview[9][10]
— Nat King Cole, Voice of America interview[9][10]
Cole's first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, "Straighten Up and Fly Right", based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Johnny Mercer
invited him to record it for his fledgling Capitol Records label. It
sold over 500,000 copies, proving that folk-based material could appeal
to a wide audience. Although Cole would never be considered a rocker,
the song can be seen as anticipating the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
"King Cole Trio Time" on NBC in 1947 with Cole, Oscar Moore and Johnny Miller.
In 1946, the Cole trio paid to have their own 15-minute radio program
on the air, called "King Cole Trio Time". It became the first radio
program sponsored by a black performing artist. During those years, the
trio recorded many "transcription" recordings, which were recordings made in the radio studio for the broadcast. Later they were used for commercial records.
Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing
pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, in which he was often
accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as "The Christmas Song",[11] "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" (1946), "Nature Boy" (1948), "Mona Lisa" (1950), "Too Young" (the #1 song in 1951),[12] and his signature tune "Unforgettable" (1951) (Gainer 1). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never completely abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956 he recorded an all-jazz album After Midnight.
Cole had one of his last major hits in 1963, two years before his
death, with "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer", which reached #6 on
the Pop chart. "Unforgettable" was made famous again in 1991 by Cole's
daughter Natalie when modern recording technology was used to reunite
father and daughter in a duet. The duet version rose to the top of the
pop charts, almost forty years after its original popularity.[13]
Television
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time.[14]
Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was
expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as
well as many of Cole's industry colleagues—many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt, and backing vocal group the Cheerleaders, worked for industry scale (or even for no pay)[14] in order to help the show save money—The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship.[14] Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.[14]
The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17,
1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who
ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show.[15] Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."[16][17]
Later career
Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to rack up successive hits, selling in millions throughout the world, including "Smile", "Pretend", "A Blossom Fell", and "If I May". His pop hits were collaborations with well-known arrangers and conductors of the day, including Nelson Riddle,[9] Gordon Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael. Riddle arranged several of Cole's 1950s albums, including his first 10-inch long-play album, his 1953 Nat King Cole Sings For Two In Love. In 1955, his single "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" reached #7 on the Billboard chart. Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, hitting No. 1 on the charts in April 1957 and remaining for eight weeks. This was the only song that hit No. 1.
In 1958, Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record Cole Español,
an album sung entirely in Spanish. The album was so popular in Latin
America, as well as in the United States, that two others of the same
variety followed: A Mis Amigos (sung in Spanish and Portuguese) in 1959 and More Cole Español in 1962. A Mis Amigos contains the Venezuelan hit "Ansiedad", whose lyrics Cole had learned while performing in Caracas in 1958. Cole learned songs in languages other than English by rote.
After the change in musical tastes during the late 1950s, Cole's
ballad singing did not sell well with younger listeners, despite a
successful stab at rock n' roll with "Send For Me"[9] (peaked at #6 pop). Along with his contemporaries Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett,
Cole found that the pop singles chart had been almost entirely taken
over by youth-oriented acts. In 1960, Nat's longtime collaborator Nelson
Riddle left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album, Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Cole later retooled the concept album into an Off-Broadway show, "I'm With You".
Cole did manage to record some hit singles during the 1960s,
including in 1961 "Let There Be Love" with George Shearing, the
country-flavored hit "Ramblin' Rose" in August 1962, "Dear Lonely Hearts", "That Sunday, That Summer" and "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer"[9] (his final top-ten hit, reaching No. 6 pop).
Cole performed in many short films, sitcoms, and television shows and played W. C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues (1958). He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia (1953). In January 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program. Cole was introduced as "the best friend a song ever had", and sang "When I Fall in Love". Cat Ballou (1965), his final film, was released several months after his death.
Personal life
Around the time Cole launched his singing career, he entered into
Freemasonry. He was raised in January 1944 in the Thomas Waller Lodge
No. 49 in California. The lodge was named after fellow Prince Hall mason
and jazz musician Fats Waller.[18] Cole was "an avid baseball fan", particularly of Hank Aaron. In 1968, Nelson Riddle
related an incident from some years earlier and told of music studio
engineers, searching for a source of noise, finding Cole listening to a
game on a transistor radio.[9]
Marriage and children
Nat and Maria Cole, 1951
Cole met his first wife, Nadine Robinson, while they were on tour for the all-black Broadway musical Shuffle Along. He was only 17 when they married. She was the reason he landed in Los Angeles and formed the Nat King Cole trio.[19]
This marriage ended in divorce in 1948. On March 28, 1948 (Easter
Sunday), just six days after his divorce became final, Cole married
singer Maria Hawkins Ellington. Although Maria had sung with the Duke Ellington band, she was not related to Duke Ellington. The Coles were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children — Natalie (1950–2015), who would go on to have a successful career as a singer; adopted daughter Carole (1944–2009, the daughter of Maria's sister), who died of lung cancer at 64; adopted son Nat Kelly Cole (1959–1995), who died of AIDS at 36;[20] and twin daughters Casey and Timolin (born 1961).
Despite conducting extramarital affairs
during both of his marriages, Cole was with Maria during his lung
cancer illness and she stayed with him until his death. In an interview,
Maria emphasized his musical legacy and the class he exhibited in all
other aspects of his life rather than any lingering bitterness over his
infidelity.[21]
Racism
Nat King Cole corner in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba
In August 1948, Cole purchased a house from Col. Harry Gantz, the former husband of silent film actress Lois Weber, in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Ku Klux Klan,
still active in Los Angeles well into the 1950s, responded by placing a
burning cross on his front lawn. Members of the property-owners
association told Cole they did not want any undesirables moving into the
neighborhood. Cole retorted, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody
undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."[22]
In 1956, Cole was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Ted Heath Band (while singing the song "Little Girl"), by three members of the North Alabama Citizens Council (a group led by Education of Little Tree author Asa "Forrest" Carter,
but not among the attackers), who were apparently attempting to kidnap
him. The three male attackers ran down the aisles of the auditorium
towards Cole and his band. Although local law enforcement quickly ended
the invasion of the stage, the ensuing melée toppled Cole from his piano
bench and injured his back. Cole did not finish the concert and never
again performed in the South.
A fourth member of the group who had participated in the plot was later
arrested in connection with the act. All were later tried and convicted
for their roles in the crime.[23]
In 1956, he was contracted to perform in Cuba and wanted to stay at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana, but was not allowed to, because it operated a color bar.
Cole honored his contract, and the concert at the Tropicana was a huge
success. The following year, he returned to Cuba for another concert,
singing many songs in Spanish. There is now a tribute to him in the form
of a bust and a jukebox in the Hotel Nacional.[24]
After his attack in Birmingham, Cole stated: "I can't understand
it ... I have not taken part in any protests. Nor have I joined an
organization fighting segregation. Why should they attack me?" A native
of Alabama,
he seemed eager to assure southern whites that he would not challenge
the customs and traditions of the region. A few would keep the protests
going for a while, he said, but "I'd just like to forget about the whole
thing." Cole had no intention of altering his practice of playing to
segregated audiences in the South. He did not condone the practice, but
was not a politician and believed, "I can't change the situation in a
day." African-American communities responded to Cole's self-professed
political indifference with an immediate, harsh, and virtually unanimous
rejection, unaffected by his revelations that he had contributed money
to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and had sued several northern hotels that had hired but refused to serve him. Thurgood Marshall, chief legal counsel of the NAACP, reportedly suggested that since he was an Uncle Tom, Cole ought to perform with a banjo. Roy Wilkins,
the executive secretary of the organization, challenged Cole in a
telegram: "You have not been a crusader or engaged in an effort to
change the customs or laws of the South. That responsibility, newspapers
quote you as saying, you leave to the other guys. That attack upon you
clearly indicates that organized bigotry makes no distinction between
those who do not actively challenge racial discrimination and those who
do. This is a fight which none of us can escape. We invite you to join
us in a crusade against racism." [25]
Cole's appearances before all-white audiences, The Chicago Defender charged, were "an insult to his race". As boycotts of his records and shows were organized, the New York Amsterdam News
claimed that "thousands of Harlem blacks who have worshiped at the
shrine of singer Nat King Cole turned their backs on him this week as
the noted crooner turned his back on the NAACP and said that he will
continue to play to Jim Crow audiences." To play "Uncle Nat's" discs, wrote a commentator in The American Negro,
"would be supporting his 'traitor' ideas and narrow way of thinking".
Deeply hurt by the criticism in the black press, Cole was also
chastened. Emphasizing his opposition to racial segregation
"in any form", he agreed to join other entertainers in boycotting
segregated venues. He quickly and conspicuously paid $500 to become a
life member of the Detroit branch of the NAACP. Until his death in 1965,
Cole was an active and visible participant in the civil rights movement, playing an important role in planning the March on Washington in 1963.[25][26]
Politics
Cole sang at the 1956 Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, on August 23, as his "singing of 'That's All There Is To That' was greeted with applause."[27] He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960 to throw his support behind Senator John F. Kennedy. Cole was also among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Cole frequently consulted with President Kennedy (and successor Lyndon B. Johnson) on civil rights.
Illness and death
In September 1964 Cole began losing weight and suffering from severe
back pain. Cole's declining health was made more difficult by the
stresses of his personal and professional life. He was appearing in a
touring musical revue, Sights and Sounds, commuting to Los Angeles to film music for Cat Ballou, and was becoming increasingly involved in an extramarital relationship with a 19-year-old Swedish dancer, Gunilla Hutton, which led Maria Cole to contemplate divorce.[28] Cole collapsed with pain at the Sands
in Vegas where he had earlier been performing, and was finally
persuaded by friends to seek medical help in December when working in
San Francisco. A cancerous tumor on his left lung in an advanced state
of growth was clearly visible on a chest X-ray and Cole was diagnosed with lung cancer, and given months to live (he had been a heavy cigarette smoker).[29]
Cole carried on working against his doctors' wishes, and made his final
recording sessions from December 1–3 in San Francisco, with an
orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael which would be released on the album L-O-V-E shortly before his death.[30]
Cole entered St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica on December 7, and began cobalt therapy on December 10. Frank Sinatra performed in Cole's place at the grand opening of the new Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center on December 12.[31]
Cole's condition gradually worsened, but he was released from hospital
over the New Year's period. At home Cole was able to see the hundreds of
thousands of cards and letters that had been sent after news of his
illness had become public. Cole returned to hospital in early January,
and sent $5,000 to Hutton, who later telephoned Maria and implored her
to divorce him. Maria confronted her husband, and Cole finally broke off
the relationship with Hutton.[32]
Cole's illness reconciled him with his wife, and he vowed that if he
recovered he would go on television to urge people to stop smoking. On
January 25 Cole's left lung was removed, and his father died of heart
problems on February 1.[33]
Throughout Cole's illness his publicists promoted the idea that he
would soon be well and working, despite the private knowledge of his
terminal condition; Billboard magazine
reported that "Nat King Cole has successfully come through a serious
operation and ... the future looks bright for 'the master' to resume
again his career".[34]
On Valentine's Day Cole and his wife briefly left St. John's to drive
by the sea, and Cole died at the hospital early in the morning of
February 15, aged 45.[35]
Cole's vault at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Cole's funeral was held on February 18 at St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Boulevard
in Los Angeles, 400 people were present, with thousands outside the
church. Hundreds of members of the public had filed past the coffin the
day before.[36] Notable honorary pallbearers included Robert F. Kennedy, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, George Burns, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Alan Livingston, Frankie Laine, Steve Allen, and Pat Brown, the Governor of California. The eulogy was delivered by Jack Benny,
who said that "Nat Cole was a man who gave so much and still had so
much to give. He gave it in song, in friendship to his fellow man,
devotion to his family. He was a star, a tremendous success as an
entertainer, an institution. But he was an even greater success as a
man, as a husband, as a father, as a friend."[37] Cole's remains were interred inside Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[38]
Posthumous releases
Cole's last album, L-O-V-E,
was recorded in early December 1964—just a few days before he entered
the hospital for cancer treatment—and was released just prior to his
death. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the
spring of 1965. A "Best Of" album went gold in 1968. His 1957 recording
of "When I Fall In Love" reached #4 in the UK charts in 1987.
In 1983, an archivist for EMI Electrola
Records, EMI (Capitol's parent company) Records' subsidiary in Germany,
discovered some songs Cole had recorded but that had never been
released, including one in Japanese and another in Spanish ("Tu Eres Tan
Amable"). Capitol released them later that year as the LP Unreleased.
In 1991, Mosaic Records released The Complete Capitol Records Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio. This compilation consisted of 349 songs and was available in either an 18-CD or 27-LP record set. In 2008 it was re-released in digital-download format through services like iTunes and Amazon Music.
Also in 1991, Natalie Cole
and her father had a hit when Natalie's own newly recorded vocal track
was added to her father's 1961 stereo re-recording of his original 1951
hit of "Unforgettable"
and mixed into a new duet version as part of a tribute album to her
father's music. The song and album of the same name won seven Grammy
awards in 1992.
Legacy
Cole was inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1997 was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
An official United States postage stamp featuring Cole's likeness was issued in 1994.[2]
In 2000, Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the major influences on early rock and roll.[2] In 2013, he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame for his contribution to the Latin music genre.[39]
"The Christmas Song", performed by Cole, still receives much airplay every holiday season.[40]
Discography
Main article: Nat King Cole discography
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Citizen Kane | Pianist in 'El Rancho' | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Pistol Packin' Mama | As part of the King Cole Trio | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Here Comes Elmer | Himself | |
| 1944 | Pin Up Girl | Canteen pianist | Uncredited |
| 1944 | Stars on Parade | As part of the King Cole Trio | |
| 1944 | Swing in the Saddle | As part of the King Cole Trio | Uncredited |
| 1944 | See My Lawyer | Specialty act | As part of the King Cole Trio |
| 1944 | Is You Is, or Is You Ain't My Baby? | Himself | Short subject |
| 1946 | Breakfast in Hollywood | As part of the King Cole Trio | |
| 1948 | Killer Diller | Himself | As part of the King Cole Trio |
| 1949 | Make Believe Ballroom | Himself | As part of the King Cole Trio |
| 1950 | King Cole Trio & Benny Carter Orchestra | Himself | Short subject |
| 1952 | Nat 'King' Cole and Joe Adams Orchestra | Himself | Short subject |
| 1953 | The Blue Gardenia | Himself | |
| 1953 | Small Town Girl | Himself | |
| 1953 | Nat 'King' Cole and Russ Morgan and His Orchestra | Himself | Short subject |
| 1955 | Kiss Me Deadly | Singer (Voice) | |
| 1955 | Rhythm and Blues Revue | Himself | Documentary |
| 1955 | Rock 'n' Roll Revue | Himself | |
| 1955 | The Nat 'King' Cole Musical Story | Himself | |
| 1956 | The Scarlet Hour | Nightclub Vocalist | |
| 1956 | Basin Street Revue | Himself | |
| 1957 | Istanbul | Danny Rice | |
| 1957 | China Gate | Goldie | |
| 1958 | St. Louis Blues | W. C. Handy | |
| 1959 | Night of the Quarter Moon | Cy Robbin | Alternative title: The Color of Her Skin |
| 1960 | Schlager-Raketen | Sänger, Himself | |
| 1965 | Cat Ballou | Shouter | Released posthumously |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Himself | 14 episodes |
| 1951–1952 | Texaco Star Theatre | Himself | 3 episodes |
| 1952–1955 | The Jackie Gleason Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1953 | The Red Skelton Show | Himself | Episode #2.20 |
| 1953–1961 | What's My Line? | Himself – Mystery Guest | 2 episodes |
| 1954–1955 | The Colgate Comedy Hour | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 1955 | Ford Star Jubilee | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1956–1957 | The Nat King Cole Show | Host | 42 episodes |
| 1957–1960 | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1958 | The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show | Himself | Episode #1.5 |
| 1959 | The Perry Como Show | Himself | Episode: January 17, 1959 |
| 1959 | The George Gobel Show | Himself | Episode #5.10 |
| 1960 | The Steve Allen Show | Himself | Episode #5.21 |
| 1960 | This Is Your Life | Himself | Episode: "Nat King Cole" |
| 1961–1964 | The Garry Moore Show | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 1962–1964 | The Jack Paar Program | Himself | 4 episodes |
| 1963 | An Evening with Nat King Cole | Himself | BBC Television special |
| 1963 | The Danny Kaye Show | Himself | Episode #1.14 |
| 1964 | The Jack Benny Program | Nat | Episode: "Nat King Cole, Guest" |
See also
 |
References
- "Holiday Airplay". Billboard. January 10, 2015.
- Epstein, Daniel Mark (1999). Nat King Cole. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 0-374-21912-5.
External links
Find more about
Nat King Cole
at Wikipedia's sister projects |
|
 |
Media from Commons |
 |
Quotations from Wikiquote |
- Nat King Cole at the Internet Movie Database
- Nat King Cole at AllMusic
- Nat King Cole discography at Discogs
- Nat King Cole at NPR.org
- The Nat King Cole Society
- The Unforgettable Nat King Cole
- Biography at Tiscali Music
- Nat "King" Cole article in the Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Nat King Cole at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Nat King Cole interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
