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PHOTO: NAT KING COLE (1919-1965)
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 hus 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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_King_Cole
Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole in 1959
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. He received numerous accolades including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1960) and a Special Achievement Golden Globe Award.[1] Posthumously, Cole has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1990), along with the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award (1992) and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2000), and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (2020).
Cole started his career as a jazz pianist in the late 1930s, where he formed The King Cole Trio which became the top-selling group (and the only black act) on Capitol Records in the 1940s. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Starting in 1950 he transitioned to become a solo singer billed as Nat King Cole. Despite achieving mainstream success, during his career he faced intense racial discrimination. While not a major vocal public figure in the civil rights movement, Cole was a member of his local NAACP branch and participated in the 1963 March on Washington. He regularly performed for civil rights organizations. From 1956 to 1957, he hosted the NBC variety series The Nat King Cole Show, which became the first nationally broadcast television show hosted by an African American.
Some of his most notable singles include "Unforgettable", "Smile", "L-O-V-E", "When I Fall in Love", "Let There Be Love", "Mona Lisa", "Autumn Leaves", "Stardust", "Straighten Up and Fly Right", "The Very Thought of You", "For Sentimental Reasons", "Embraceable You" and "Almost Like Being in Love". His 1960 Christmas album The Magic of Christmas (also known as The Christmas Song), is the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s; and was ranked as one of the 40 essential Christmas albums (2019) by Rolling Stone.[2] In 2022, his recording of "The Christmas Song", broke the record for the longest journey to the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, when it peaked at number nine, 62-years after it first debuted on the chart; and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry.[3][4]
He was the father of singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015), who covered her father's songs in the 1991 album Unforgettable... with Love.
Biography
Early life
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919.[5] He had three brothers: Eddie (1910–1970), Ike (1927–2001), and Freddy (1931–2020),[6] and a half-sister, Joyce Coles.[7] Each of the Coles brothers pursued careers in music.[7] When Cole was four years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister.[8]
Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist.[9] His first performance was "Yes! We Have No Bananas" at the age of four.[10] He began formal piano lessons at 12,[11] learning jazz, gospel, and classical music "from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff".[12] As a youth, he joined the news delivery boys' "Bud Billiken Club" band for The Chicago Defender.[13]
The Cole family moved to the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago,[14] where he attended Wendell Phillips Academy High School,[15] the school Sam Cooke attended a few years later.[16] He participated in Walter Dyett's music program at DuSable High School.[17] He would sneak out of the house to visit clubs, sitting outside to hear Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone.[18]
Early career
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When he was 15, Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. After his brother Eddie, a bassist, came home from touring with Noble Sissle, they formed a sextet and recorded two singles for Decca in 1936 as Eddie Cole's Swingsters. They performed in a revival of the musical Shuffle Along. Nat Cole went on tour with the musical. In 1937, he married Nadine Robinson, who was a member of the cast. After the show ended in Los Angeles, Cole and Nadine settled there while he looked for work. He led a big band and found work playing piano in nightclubs. When a club owner asked him to form a band, he hired bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore. They called themselves the King Cole Swingsters after the nursery rhyme in which "Old King Cole was a merry old soul". They changed their name to the King Cole Trio before making radio transcriptions and recording for small labels.[19]
Cole recorded "Sweet Lorraine" in 1940, and it became his first hit.[20] According to legend, his career as a vocalist started when a drunken bar patron demanded that he sing the song. Cole said that this fabricated story sounded good, so he did not argue with it. There was a customer one night who demanded that he sing, but because it was a song Cole did not know, he sang "Sweet Lorraine" instead. As people heard Cole's vocal talent, they requested more vocal songs, and he obliged.[21]
1940s
In 1941, the trio recorded "That Ain't Right" for Decca, followed the next year by "All for You" for Excelsior.[19] They recorded "I'm Lost", a song written by Otis René, the owner of Excelsior.[22]
"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."
Cole appeared in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts in 1944. He was credited on Mercury as "Shorty Nadine", a derivative of his wife's name, because he had an exclusive contract with Capitol[25] since signing with the label the year before. He recorded with Illinois Jacquet and Lester Young.[20]
In 1946, the trio broadcast King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute radio program. This was the first radio program to be hosted by a black musician. Between 1946 and 1948, the trio recorded radio transcriptions for Capitol Records Transcription Service.[26][27] They performed on the radio programs Swing Soiree, Old Gold, The Chesterfield Supper Club, Kraft Music Hall, and The Orson Welles Almanac.[28][29]
Cole began recording and performing pop-oriented material in which he was often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular star was cemented by hits such as "All for You" (1943), "The Christmas Song" (1947),[30] "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" (1946), "There! I've Said It Again" (1947), "Nature Boy" (1948), "Frosty The Snowman", "Mona Lisa" (No. 1 song of 1950), "Orange Colored Sky" (1950), "Too Young" (the No. 1 song of 1951).[31]
1950s
On June 7, 1953, Cole performed for the ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Chicago which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. Featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Shorty Rogers, Earl Bostic, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton.[32][33]
On November 5, 1956, The Nat 'King' Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was one of the first hosted by an African American.[34] The program started at a length of fifteen minutes but was increased to a half-hour in July 1957. Rheingold Beer was a regional sponsor, but a national sponsor was never found. The show was in trouble financially despite efforts by NBC, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee, and Mel Tormé.[35] Cole decided to end the program. The last episode aired on December 17, 1957.[36] Commenting on the lack of sponsorship, Cole said shortly after its demise: "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."[37][38]
Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to record hits that sold millions throughout the world, such as "Smile", "Pretend", "A Blossom Fell", and "If I May". His pop hits were collaborations with Nelson Riddle,[23] Gordon Jenkins, and Ralph Carmichael. Riddle arranged several of Cole's 1950s albums, including Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love (1953), his first 10-inch LP. In 1955, "Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup" reached number 7 on the Billboard chart. Love Is the Thing went to number one in April 1957 and remained his only number one album.
In 1959, he received a Grammy Award for Best Performance By a "Top 40" Artist for "Midnight Flyer".[39]
In 1958, Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record Cole Español, an album sung entirely in Spanish. It was so popular in Latin America and the U.S. that it was followed by two more Spanish-language albums: A Mis Amigos (1959) and More Cole Español (1962).
After the change in musical tastes, Cole's ballads appealed little to young listeners, despite a successful attempt at rock and roll with "Send for Me",[23] which peaked at number 6 on the pop chart. Like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Tony Bennett, he found that the pop chart had been taken over by youth-oriented acts.
1960s
In 1960, Cole's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle left Capitol to join Reprise Records, which was established by Frank Sinatra. Riddle and Cole recorded one final hit album, Wild Is Love, with lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Cole later retooled the concept album into an Off-Broadway show, I'm with You.
Nevertheless, Cole recorded several hit singles during the 1960s, including "Let There Be Love" with George Shearing in 1961, the country-flavored hit "Ramblin' Rose" in August 1962 (reaching No. 2 on the Pop chart), "Dear Lonely Hearts" (No. 13), "That Sunday, That Summer" (No. 12) and "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer"[23] (his final top-ten hit, reaching number 6 on the Pop chart). He performed in many short films, sitcoms, and television shows and played W. C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues (1958). He 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. He 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.
Earlier on, Cole's shift to traditional pop led some jazz critics and fans to accuse him of selling out, but he never abandoned his jazz roots; as late as 1956 he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight, and many of his albums after this are fundamentally jazz-based, being scored for big band without strings, although the arrangements focus primarily on the vocal rather than instrumental leads.
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 number 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.[40]
Cole's final studio album was titled L-O-V-E. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965.
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.[41][42] He joined the Scottish Rite Freemasonry,[43] becoming Master Mason.[44] 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.[23]
Marriages and children
Cole met his first wife, Nadine Robinson, while they were on tour for the all-black Broadway musical Shuffle Along. He was 18 when they married. She was the reason he moved to Los Angeles and formed the Nat King Cole trio.[45] This marriage ended in divorce in 1948. On March 28, 1948 (Easter Sunday), six days after his divorce became final, Cole married the singer Maria Hawkins. The Coles were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. They had five children: Natalie (1950–2015), who had a successful career as a singer before dying of congestive heart failure at age 65; an adopted daughter, Carole (1944–2009, the daughter of Maria's sister), who died of lung cancer at the age of 64; an adopted son, Nat Kelly Cole (1959–1995), who died of AIDS at the age of 36;[46] and twin daughters, Casey and Timolin (born September 26, 1961), whose birth was announced in the "Milestones" column of Time magazine on October 6, 1961. Maria supported him during his final illness and stayed with him until his death. In an interview, she emphasized his musical legacy and the class he exhibited despite his imperfections.[47]
Experiences with racism
In August 1948, Cole purchased a house from Col. Harry Gantz, the former husband of the silent film actress Lois Weber, in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Ku Klux Klan, which was active in Los Angeles in 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 responded, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."[48] His dog died after eating poisoned meat, something likely to be connected to his moving to the neighborhood.[49]
In 1956, Cole was contracted to perform in Cuba. He wanted to stay at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana but was refused because it operated a color bar. Cole honored his contract, and the concert at the Tropicana Club was a huge success. During the following year, he returned to Cuba for another concert, singing many songs in Spanish.
In 1956, Cole was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Ted Heath Band while singing the song "Little Girl". Having circulated photographs of Cole with white female fans bearing incendiary boldface captions reading "Cole and His White Women" and "Cole and Your Daughter"[50] three men belonging to the North Alabama Citizens Council assaulted Cole, apparently attempting to kidnap him.
The three assailants ran down the aisles of the auditorium towards Cole. Local law enforcement quickly ended the invasion of the stage, but in the ensuing mêlée Cole was toppled from his piano bench and received a slight injury to his back. He did not finish the concert. A fourth member of the group was later arrested. All were tried and convicted.[51]
Six men, including 23-year-old Willie Richard Vinson, were formally charged with assault with intent to murder him, but later the charge against four of them was changed to conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor. The original plan to attack Cole included 150 men from Birmingham and nearby towns.[52]
After being attacked in Birmingham, Cole said, "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?" Cole said he wanted to forget the incident and continued to play for segregated audiences in the American South. He said he could not change the situation in a day. He contributed money to the Montgomery bus boycott and had sued northern hotels that had hired him but refused to serve him.
Thurgood Marshall, the chief legal counsel of the NAACP, called him an Uncle Tom and said he should perform with a banjo. Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the NAACP, wrote him a telegram that said:
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.[53]
The Chicago Defender said Cole's performances for all-white audiences were an insult to his race. The New York Amsterdam News said 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 chastened. Emphasizing his opposition to racial segregation "in any form", he agreed to join other entertainers in boycotting segregated venues. He paid $500 to become a lifetime 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.[54][55]
Politics
Cole performed in 1956 for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's televised birthday celebration.[56] At the 1956 Republican National Convention, he sang "That's All There Is to That" and was "greeted with applause".[57]
He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960 to support Senator John F. Kennedy. He was among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Cole consulted with Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, on civil rights.
Illness and death
In September 1964, Cole began to lose weight and experienced back problems.[58] He collapsed with pain after performing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. In December, he was working in San Francisco when he was finally persuaded by friends to seek medical help. A malignant tumor in an advanced state of growth on his left lung was observed on a chest X-ray. Cole, who was a heavy cigarette smoker, had lung cancer and was expected to have only months to live.[59] Against his doctors' wishes, Cole carried on his work and made his final recordings between December 1 and 3 in San Francisco, with an orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael. The music was released on the album L-O-V-E shortly before his death.[60] His daughter noted later that he did this to assure the welfare of his family.
Cole entered Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica on December 7, 1964 and cobalt therapy was started 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.[61] Cole's condition gradually worsened, but he was released from the 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 was made public. Cole returned to the hospital in early January 1965. He also sent $5,000 (US$47,000 in 2022 dollars[62]) to actress and singer Gunilla Hutton, with whom he had been romantically involved since early 1964.[63] Hutton later telephoned Maria and implored her to divorce him. Maria confronted her husband, and Cole finally broke off the relationship with Hutton.[64] 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 entire left lung was surgically removed. His father died of heart problems on February 1.[65] 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 his career again".[66] On Valentine's Day, Cole and his wife briefly left St. John's to drive by the sea. He died at the hospital early in the morning hours of Monday, February 15, 1965 at the age of 45.[67]
Cole's funeral was held on February 18 at St. James' Episcopal Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles; 400 people were present inside the church, and thousands gathered outside. Hundreds of members of the public had filed past the coffin the day before.[68] 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."[69] Cole's remains were interred in Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California.[70]
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 before he died. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A Best Of album was certified a gold record in 1968. His 1957 recording of "When I Fall in Love" reached number 4 in the UK charts in 1987, released in reaction to a version by Rick Astley challenging for the coveted Christmas number 1 spot.
In 1983, an archivist for EMI Electrola Records, a subsidiary of EMI (Capitol's parent company until 2013) in Germany, discovered some unreleased recordings by Cole, 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, a compilation of 349 songs available as an 18-CD or a 27-LP set. In 2008, it was re-released in digital-download format through services like iTunes and Amazon Music.
Also in 1991, Natalie Cole recorded a new vocal track that was mixed with her father's 1961 stereo re-recording of his 1951 hit "Unforgettable" for a tribute album of the same title on Elektra Records. The song and album won seven Grammy awards in 1992 for Best Album and Best Song.
Discography
- The King Cole Trio (1944)
- The King Cole Trio, Volume 2 (1946)
- The King Cole Trio, Volume 3 (1947)
- The King Cole Trio, Volume 4 (1949)
- Nat King Cole at the Piano (1950)
- Harvest of Hits (1950)
- King Cole for Kids (1951)
- Penthouse Serenade (1952)
- Top Pops (1952)
- Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love (1953)
- Unforgettable (1954)
- Penthouse Serenade (1955)
- Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love (1955) (12-inch re-release)
- The Piano Style of Nat King Cole (1955)
- After Midnight (1957)
- Just One of Those Things (1957)
- Love Is the Thing (1957)
- Cole Español (1958)
- St. Louis Blues (1958)
- The Very Thought of You (1958)
- To Whom It May Concern (1958)
- Welcome to the Club (1958)
- A Mis Amigos (1959)
- Tell Me All About Yourself (1960)
- Every Time I Feel the Spirit (1960)
- Wild Is Love (1960)
- The Magic of Christmas (1960)
- The Nat King Cole Story (1961)
- The Touch of Your Lips (1961)
- Nat King Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays (1962)
- Ramblin' Rose (1962)
- Dear Lonely Hearts (1962)
- More Cole Español (1962)
- Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (1963)
- Where Did Everyone Go? (1963)
- Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady (1964)
- Let's Face the Music! (1964, recorded 1961)
- I Don't Want to Be Hurt Anymore (1964)
- L-O-V-E (1965)
- Nat King Cole Sings His Songs From 'Cat Ballou' and Other Motion Pictures (1965)
- Live at the Sands (1966, recorded 1960)
His hit singles include "Straighten Up and Fly Right" 1944 No. 8, "The Christmas Song" 1946/1962/2018 No. ?/No. 65/No. 11, "Nature Boy" 1948 No. 1, "Mona Lisa 1950 No. 1, "Frosty, The Snowman" 1950 No. 9, "Too Young" 1951 No. 1, "Unforgettable" 1951 No. 12, "Somewhere Along the Way" 1952 No. 8, "Answer Me, My Love" 1954 No. 6, "A Blossom Fell" 1955 No. 2, "If I May" 1955 No. 8, "Send for Me" 1957 No. 6, "Looking Back" 1958 No. 5, "Ramblin' Rose" 1962 No. 2, "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" 1963 No. 6, and "Unforgettable" 1991 (with daughter Natalie).
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Here Comes Elmer | Himself |
|
| 1943 | Pistol Packin' Mama | As part of the King Cole Trio | Uncredited |
| 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 |
| 1945 | Frim Fram Sauce | Himself | Short subject |
| 1946 | Breakfast in Hollywood | As part of the King Cole Trio |
|
| 1946 | Errand Boy for Rhythm | Himself | Short subject |
| 1946 | Come to Baby Do | Himself | Short subject |
| 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 |
| 1951 | You Call It Madness | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | When I Fall in Love | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | The Trouble with Me Is You | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Sweet Lorraine | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Route 66 | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Nature Boy | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Mona Lisa | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Home | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | For Sentimental Reasons | Himself | Short subject |
| 1951 | Calypso Blues | 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 | Short subject |
| 1955 | The Nat 'King' Cole Musical Story | Himself | Short subject |
| 1955 | Rhythm and Blues Revue | Himself | Documentary |
| 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 | A.k.a. The Color of Her Skin |
| 1959 | Premier Khrushchev in the USA | Himself | Documentary |
| 1960 | Schlager-Raketen | Sänger, Himself |
|
| 1965 | Cat Ballou | Shouter | Released posthumously, (final film role) |
| 1989 | Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs | Himself | Documentary |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 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? | "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 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" |
| 1960 | Academy Award Songs | Himself | TV movie |
| 1960 | Special Gala to Support Kennedy Campaign | Himself | TV movie |
| 1961 | Main Event | Himself | TV movie |
| 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 | TV movie |
| 1963 | An Evening with Nat King Cole | Himself | BBC Television special |
| 1963 | The Danny Kaye Show | Himself | Episode #1.14 |
| 1964 | Freedom Spectacular | Himself | TV movie |
| 1964 | The Jack Benny Program | Nat | Episode: "Nat King Cole, Guest" |
Awards and honors
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Cole was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990. In 1992, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[71] He was also inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007. A United States postage stamp with Cole's likeness was issued in 1994. Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.[72]
Cole's success at Capitol Records, for which he recorded more than 150 singles that reached the Billboard Pop, R&B, and Country charts, has yet to be matched by any Capitol artist.[73] His records sold 50 million copies during his career.[74] His recording of "The Christmas Song" still receives airplay every holiday season, even hitting the Billboard Top 40 in December 2017.[75] In 2020, Cole was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.[76]
Further reading
- Will Friedwald, Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole, Oxford University Press, 2020. ISBN 978-0190882044.
- Epstein, Daniel Mark (1999). Nat King Cole. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 978-0374219123.
- Bill Dobbins and Richard Wang. "Cole, Nat 'King'." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Web. September 28, 2016.
- Pelote, Vincent. "Book Reviews: "Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole," by Leslie Gourse." Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, vol. 49, no. 3, 1993., pp. 1073–1074,
External links
- Nat King Cole at IMDb
- Nat King Cole at AllMusic
- Nat King Cole discography at Discogs
- Nat King Cole at NPR.org
- Nat "King" Cole article in the Encyclopedia of Alabama Archived December 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- "Nat King Cole". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
https://www.biography.com/musicians/nat-king-cole
Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole (1919-1965)
Photo: Getty Images
Who Was Nat King Cole?
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
Cole was born on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama. Known for his smooth and well-articulated vocal style, Cole actually started out as a piano man. He first learned to play around the age of four 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, 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.
Death
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, 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 Cole 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 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 his 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.
QUICK FACTS
- Name: Nat King Cole
- Birth Year: 1919
- Birth date: March 17, 1919
- Birth State: Alabama
- Birth City: Montgomery
- Birth Country: United States
- Gender: Male
- Best Known For: 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."
- Industries
- Pop
- Jazz
Nat King Cole: Original Five-Tool Jazz Player
March 16, 2010
by Mary McCann
NPR
Hear The Songs
Take Five celebrates the birthday of pianist and vocalist Nat King Cole.
He was born on March 17, 1919, and over the course of his life became a
jazz innovator and an icon of American popular music. A baseball fan,
Cole had been scouted by the Negro Leagues as a player, which leads us
neatly to our metaphor for today. To put it in baseball parlance, Cole
was perhaps the first "five-tool player" in the jazz world.
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
https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2011/07/nat-king-cole-jazz-pianist.html
Friday, July 8, 2011Nat King Cole – Jazz Pianist
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artist/nat-king-cole/
Nat King Cole
The late singer and pianist was famous for songs like “Sweet Lorraine” and “Too Young,” as well as for being the first African-American man to host a national TV show.
It’s not difficult to understand why Nat ‘King’ Cole was so loved and respected as a singer and pianist. With his jazz leanings, his blues undertones and a voice as smooth as silk he appealed to just about everyone…Black or White. Along with Louis Jordan, the man they dubbed the ‘King of the Jukeboxes and Louis Armstrong, Nat blazed a trail for Black performers in America. According to Time magazine, “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.”
He was the first black performer to have his own regular radio show and later he s became the first to have his own regular TV show. His approach to the tensions created by segregation was a softer, less confrontational than by some and yet his quiet, dignity helped to make a difference in America.
Nathanial Adams Coles’ family moved from Montgomery, Alabama, where he was born in 1919, to Chicago before he was five years old. As a child he sang in church, his father was a preacher, and was encouraged by his mother who was an amateur pianist. His ability to ‘pitch-perfect’ and seemingly able to quickly pick out a tune on the piano made it seem that Nat was bound for a life in music. His father was none too keen on the idea of a life spent playing the sort of jazz and blues that his son liked to listen to on the radio.
His older brother Eddie who played bass encouraged him and soon the two were leading a band that played on Chicago’s south side. Things seemed to come to an abrupt halt for sixteen-year-old Nat when Eddie left to join an orchestra in New York. However, that didn’t last long and Eddie was soon back in Chicago and the brother’s band was now going out as Eddie Cole and His Solid Swingers.
He made his recording debut in July 1936 for Decca with brother Eddie’s band; the influence of Earl Hines playing style, particularly on Honey Hush, can be heard in the piano breaks. Nat also had his own band and he would frequently play Hines’ arrangements. Soon after Nat recorded for the first time he left Chicago and ended up in Los Angeles, the beginning and the end of Route 66; which would become one of Cole’s biggest hits in 1946. He had fallen for a dancer named Nadine who had persuaded the producers of a revival of Eubie Blake’s revue, Shuffle Along to let Nat play the piano. The show was touring and on the way, the two of them got married and although the show was far from successful by the time they ended up in California they decided to stay.
Playing up and down the California coast the band began to gain a solid reputation and Nat, in particular, was drawing admiring comments from the jazz fraternity and particularly other piano players who marvelled at his talent. He also gained the moniker ‘King’ from a club owner; it certainly stuck.
Eventually, Nat was offered a residency at the Swanee Inn on North La Brea Avenue, just south of Hollywood. The place was small so a three-piece was the only option – the King Cole Trio was born; Nat enlisted bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore to play with him, and inspired choice as both men were well known in Hollywood studios added to which the three of them got on really well.
The first time they recorded in 1939 they did so as King Cole’s Swingsters, over the next three years they laid down some great jazz as the King Cole Trio with songs such as ‘Hit That Jive Jack’ and ‘I Like To Riff’ that are firmly rooted in the genre. Then in July 1942, Cole recorded with saxophonist, Lester Young and bass player Red Callender. Amongst the sublime sides were ‘I Can’t Get Started’, ‘Tea For Two’ and ‘Body and Soul’. The impeccable performances and especially Nat Cole’s piano playing shows off his jazz credentials and instantly negate any critic who sees the man as just a ‘nice crooner’.
In November 1942 the King Cole Trio recorded, ‘That Ain’t Right’, which went to No.1 on the R&B charts. The following year ‘All For You’ repeated the success as well as crossing over onto the Billboard chart. A switch to the newly formed Capitol Records brought national recognition when, in early 1944, ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’ became a big hit; it was apparently the theme of one of his father’s sermons. Later in 1944 Cole appeared at the very first Jazz at the Philharmonic along with Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea and other jazz stars.
Following his switch to Capitol Nat King Cole was rarely off the Billboard best-sellers list. While he worked with big studio orchestras from 1946 onwards his earlier work owed more to the juke joints than to the ballrooms and concert halls. After playing at the Paramount in New York with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1946 Cole got a radio series becoming one of the very few to get commercial sponsorship during a period when ‘white was still right’ as far as advertisers were concerned.
Nat’s drift away from his roots continued and there was a change in his personal circumstances when he divorced Nadine and married Maria Ellington. His new wife’s background was solidly professional Boston, a good deal more upper class than show-biz; this despite the fact that Maria sang with Duke Ellington’s Orchestra – although he was no relation. Such was Cole’s success on Capitol that it was the revenue from the sales of his recordings that helped the label to become so important.
In 1948 Cole recorded ‘Nature Boy’ with a string orchestra; it was a smash hit. The song’s composer, eden ahbez (he liked his name spelt in lower case) lived, so legend has it, underneath the first L of the ‘Hollywood’ sign on Mt. Lee in the Hollywood Hills. ahbez who was born Alexander Aberle in Brooklyn, New York in 1908 had written his song about a “strange enchanted boy” “who wandered very far” only to learn that, “the greatest gift,” “was just to love and be loved in return.” One day ahbez hustled Nat Cole’s manager, giving him a manuscript copy of the song. Cole immediately recognized the old Jewish melody of the song, but liked the words and decided to record it. It’s arguably the song that changed Nat Cole from a jazz singer to a popular singer.
Nevertheless, his influence had spread to many jazz piano players including Errol Garner, Bill Evans, Charles Brown and Ray Charles. For the next two decades Cole was one of the biggest things on the R&B charts, and no slouch on the mainstream Billboard charts, as his records increasingly crossed over to the white audience. Interestingly, one of his best-known songs, ‘Unforgettable’ (recorded in 1951), was not one of his biggest single releases.
In the Fifties and Sixties Cole recorded with both Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, like his Capitol label mate Frank Sinatra; for a while, he was even bigger than Sinatra because in the early fifties, before Frank signed to the Los Angeles label, Cole could do no wrong. He also appeared in several movies during the Fifties, including ‘St Louis Blues’ in which he played W.C. Handy to self-proclaimed ‘Father of the Blues’. He also had his own television series but the issue of his colour may have prevented him from becoming more successful on the small screen. According to Nat, “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”
For such a mild-mannered man and a singer of some of the most romantic ballads to come out of the 1950s, it’s perhaps strange now to think that Cole should find himself at the centre of some very unpleasant controversy in 1956. Cole was on tour with the British bandleader, Ted Heath and his orchestra in Alabama when he was attacked by some white men for daring to appear on the same bill as a white band. Rather than trade insults with some bigoted sections of the community Cole decided to do things in a different way.
He supported the Civil Rights movement with money, culminating in1963 when he announced that he was giving $50,000, worth close to $400,000 today, to organizations fighting for civil rights in the South. He pledged the money from his concerts in Los Angles that were sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His gesture led to other black performers doing likewise.
Cole, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. He died the following year, aged 45. In March 2000, with Ray Charles as his presenter, Nat King Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The man who once said, “Critics don’t buy records. They get ’em free,” was a twentieth-century great who died far too young. He left us with one of the most wonderful recorded legacies ranging from pure jazz to sublimely romantic ballads.
As Nat himself once said, “Singing a song is like telling a story. So I pick songs that I can really feel.” And that is what characterises his approach to a song…but never forget he was also a great jazz piano player.
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/nat-king-cole-about-nat-king-cole/558/
AMERICAN MASTERS
Nat King Cole: The World of Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole crowns a very short list of the most identifiable and memorable voices in American music. This ground breaking American icon’s impact continues to cross the world’s cultural and political boundaries. The story of his life is a study in success in the face of adversity and the triumph of talent over the ignorance of prejudice.
https://downbeat.com/news/detail/transformative-power-nat-king-cole
https://downbeat.com/news/detail/transformative-power-nat-king-cole/P1
https://downbeat.com/news/detail/transformative-power-nat-king-cole/P2
The Transformative Power of Nat ‘King’ Cole
October 18, 2019
Downbeat
Nat “King” Cole sat at the crossroads of jazz and pop. (Photo: Capitol Photo Archives)
It’s amazing how much Nat “King” Cole material we have to forgive in order to find the man we revere in this, the 100th year since his birth. It’s my guess that you won’t find anyone within the gilded and gated community of America’s supreme singers who recorded as many silly songs as Cole.
I wrote something very different in these pages in 2005, reflecting on the 40th anniversary of his death and marveling at how such a brief life (1919–’65) could enjoy such a long afterlife. The reason lay in the quality songs he chose—songs future singers would value because good songs always challenge serious talent. I remembered mostly the Capitol albums of the 1950s and the signature singles: “Lush Life,” “Mona Lisa,” “A Christmas Song,” “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.” Baby boomers will find their childhoods sealed in these songs deep into their dementia. More important, younger musicians and singers will discover and reinvent them in Cole’s name.
But music journalists are not bound by the stare decisis of their past opinions. Since 2005, I’ve learned how many musical skeletons there are in Cole’s king-size closet. When I caught up with Mosaic Records’ 18-CD set of his Capitol trios and the many transcription sides he did, I understood that Cole had no strategy at all about material. It would seem that he’d perform just about anything he was handed: “Jumpy Jitters,” “Fla-Ga-La-Pa,” “Call The Police,” “Hit That Jive, Jack,” “I’m An Errand Boy For Rhythm.”
“He had all these little rhythm tunes that were just built around a punch line at the end,” explains John Pizzarelli, whose recent trio album, For Centennial Reasons: 100 Year Salute To Nat King Cole (Ghostlight Deluxe), captures the pure fun in some of these jive tunes without ever patronizing them. “I felt like a lot of them were just an excuse to get to the blowing, like ‘Errand Boy.’ They pulled the audience in so he could do the ‘Rhythm’ changes. You can’t try to make too much of a song out of it.”
Singers like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett looked for a dramatic narrative in their songs. But Cole was a great jazz pianist who could toss the script after the first chorus, and that instinct carried into his early singing, which often implied a certain tongue-in-cheek consciousness of their insignificance; not as self-mocking as Fats Waller, but a self-awareness just the same. Fundamentally, they are the work of an intuitive entertainer whose purpose is to amuse, not elevate.
Today, Cole is still connecting at 100, as a long procession of tributes and reissues roll out, much of it with the cooperation of the Cole Estate. Capitol Records, which has nurtured and refreshed its vast Cole catalog regularly and with care for decades, began the parade modestly this spring with Ultimate Nat King Cole, a compact summary of 21 signature Cole landmarks spanning the mid-1940s through the ’60s; and International Nat King Cole, which focuses on his multilingual work, including five versions of “L-O-V-E,” each in a different tongue.
Cole’s pre-Capitol years are thoroughly documented in Resonance Records’ Hittin’ The Ramp: The Early Years (1936–1943), which compiles on seven CDs (or 10 LPs) the private transcription dates from Standard, Keystone and MacGregor, plus a CD of unissued material, alternate takes and even some early live work.
For Cole’s younger brother, Freddie Cole, now 87, this is a busy year. The singer-pianist performs very much within his own style and never has been a stand-in for his brother. But it will be hard to escape that aura, especially on Sept. 1 when he plays the Nat Cole Jazz Festival in Montgomery, Alabama, the city of Nat’s birth; and two days earlier, the 40th annual jazz festival in Chicago, where he grew up.
Cole endures like an indelible watermark in American music through the work of those who have been influenced by him—most famously his daughter, Natalie, who won a 1991 Grammy for Unforgettable, a tribute to her father. Contemporary audiences get it through the work of part-time proxies like Pizzarelli, Diana Krall, Marlena Shaw and Gregory Porter, who released the tribute album Nat “King” Cole & Me (Blue Note) in 2017, and revisited the material on a 2019 concert album, One Night Only: Live At The Royal Albert Hall (Blue Note). Even the late Marvin Gaye has a place on the current Cole train, as Motown released an expanded version of his 1965 memorial, A Tribute To The Great Nat King Cole.
“I have tried to learn as much as possible about Nat Cole by collecting every record that could be found and by seeking out people who knew Nat and made music with him,” Pizzarelli wrote in the forward to Nat King Cole: Straighten Up and Fly Right, a book by Will Friedwald due out by early 2020. “The joy that man and that group brought me ... has never faded, and the musicality of his trio sides remain[s] fresh and as vibrant as the day they were recorded.”
For those who view the world through jazz-colored glasses, the great schism in Cole’s career came in the early 1940s, when he emerged from being just a great pianist and moved toward becoming a great singer as well. Most music lives on a playing field of perception and, by extension, self-perception. Cole came of age in Chicago as an Earl Hines disciple in the mid-’30s, precisely as jazz was becoming the most popular music in America. It’s not surprising that it was perceived as neither serious nor as art. It was just show business. So, when Cole made his first records at age 17 in 1936 and put together his first trio two years later, like Fats Waller, he found nothing demeaning in being embraced by a broad audience. From the beginning, he accepted that entertaining was an honorable art in itself and needed no greater ambitions.
By the mid-’40s, as Cole was hitting his stride, jazz was beginning to separate itself from pop music, and the word “commercial” had become a snide put-down among critics and would-be artists.
“In those days,” Cole told DownBeat’s John Tynan in a 1957 profile, “I really didn’t think about singing ... . My main interest was playing piano.” That was a dodge more artful then accurate. He might not have thought much about singing, but he certainly did a lot of it. By 1942, of the 18 records he had made under his name, 15 of them had vocals. Tynan was less evasive. “From the very outset,” he wrote in the same story, “Nat Cole had his eye trained on commercial success ... . He well knew that the jazz road is seldom paved with gold.”
Born in Alabama, Cole had grown up amid racist Jim Crow laws. Like Armstrong, Ellington, Waller, Lionel Hampton and other African American musicians who had beaten the odds to become stars, Cole understood how each had wrapped his music in a unique personality that immediately connected to a wide audience. He also recognized the risks of black stardom and the expectations that went with it.
At this point, around 1942–’43, Cole found himself at a career fork between a good jazz life and the less certain prospect of major pop fame. Compromise could not be indefinitely postponed. Ground zero for Cole would be Glenn Wallichs’ shop, Music City, a record-and-music superstore on the corner of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. It was the headquarters and hub of Los Angeles’ music and entertainment scene at the time, across the street from NBC’s West Coast studios and a minute’s walk to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Palladium.
Though Cole had worked mostly in the “Black Broadway” area along L.A.’s Central Avenue before 1940, he was becoming known, particularly at Music City, whose opening he had played that year. It was here that two key figures would converge upon Cole, each a connoisseur of a particular kind of quality. Cole was a unique blend of both. They offered him two very different futures, two very different paths ahead. But he had to make the choice.
One was Carlos Gastel. Several years Cole’s senior, he was a stylish, educated man who had come from Honduras to Los Angeles and learned the business end of the industry working at Music City. The store attracted a lot of aspiring musicians and singers, in part because Wallichs had set up a small recording studio where audition records and private sessions could be done cheaply. These were the sort of people Gastel was eager to meet because some of them might be looking for the kind of promotion and management services he could offer. In September 1941, he had hitched his wagon to Stan Kenton’s rising star and was gaining career altitude himself.
If Gastel was all show business establishment, Cole’s other would-be mentor epitomized the more cultish elitism of the jazz underground. He was Norman Granz, future founder of Jazz at the Philharmonic and Verve Records. “In the beginning of my jazz career,” Granz later wrote, “the man most responsible for my success was Nat Cole. Not only was he inextricably tied to my professional mode, but he became my best friend and mentor into the black musician’s way of life.” As Granz slowly built his irregular network of local jam sessions, Cole became its titular leader and backbone, working them into his schedule as a sidebar to his bread-and-butter trio bookings.
Aside from his first record date in 1936 (as a sideman with his brother Eddie) and two Victor sessions for Hampton in the summer of 1940, virtually all of Cole’s trio work had been done for noncommercial transcription services and were largely heard only on black radio stations. In December 1940, Decca began recording the trio, but its marketing reflected the old-time assumptions that black artists are best marketed primarily to black audiences. So, Cole was confined to the company’s 8000 or “sepia” series, reserved for black performers with some crossover potential. And indeed, Cole did begin to cross over.
Granz was eager to accelerate that success, though he had no record company, no connections and no prospects. He also had little interest in Cole as a singer. Instead, he arranged a few straight jazz dates on his own, not with the trio but with ad-hoc groups of selected musicians. And the cheapest place in town to make a record was none other than Wallichs’ Music City.
Thus converged upon Cole the very different visions of Gastel and Granz, two men who soon would be in undeclared competition over his future career. On July 15, 1942, Granz produced his first record session in the Music City studio as little more than a souvenir of his two favorite musicians—Cole and Lester Young with bassist Red Callender—with the thought of releasing it in the future. But the future was moving fast, and World War II was raging. Within a month, the draft would take Granz out of the picture. During that time, Cole would begin talks with Gastel about a possible management arrangement.
In early 1943, with Granz enlisted in the U.S. Army, Gastel and Cole shook hands—and that was that. Gastel’s one provision was that he would take no commission until Cole’s performance fee hit $800 per week. Cole, who then was pulling in about $200, was soon to learn the first lesson of show business: Never underestimate your value when you have a good agent. Gastel quickly booked him into The Orpheum Theatre at $1,000 per week, and the golden eggs began to hatch.
By the time Granz returned to L.A. as a civilian less than a year later, a lot had changed. In June 1942, that little record studio in Music City had become Capitol Records. The original partners were Wallichs, songwriter Johnny Mercer and Paramount Pictures executive Buddy DeSylva.
With that kind of paternity, a fast breakout seemed a foregone conclusion for the new label. But fate and the American Federation of Musicians would intervene, giving Granz a few months of breathing time. Six weeks after Capitol released its first record, the AFM shut down the entire record industry with a strike that would last into October 1943. Unable to record, Capitol went shopping for neglected masters from small companies. It found a couple of 1942 Cole trio sides at a black-owned label called Excelsior, bought them for $25, and immediately reissued them. “All Of You” was among the first Capitol discs to chart in the top 20. And by the fall of 1943, Gastel signed Cole to a seven-year pact at Capitol.
When Granz returned to L.A. in May 1943, Cole was beginning to taste the big time. But he hadn’t lost his interest in jazz. The two resumed their local road show of jam sessions, using their swelling success to aggressively dismantle decades of encrusted Jim Crow notions that had kept both bandstands and audiences in L.A. largely segregated.
Granz also resumed his recording with Cole, doing combinations that would never happen at Capitol. In November 1943, with the AFM strike over, Cole recorded his first breakout hit at Capitol, “Straighten Up And Fly Right.” In the same month, Granz produced a straight jazz date with Cole and Dexter Gordon, then three months later, another with Illinois Jacquet. But the Granz dates lay unreleased until 1945–’46, which is why they weren’t noticed, while the Capitols kept coming and coming.
By the time Cole did the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert on July 2, 1944, “Straighten Up And Fly Right” was making him a popular star. Capitol was a new company and had no use for any “sepia” or race line; it gave Cole complete promotional support. The final Granz-Cole collaboration came in the spring of 1946—the famous trio date with Lester Young and Buddy Rich. But this was also the year of Capitol releases 304 and 311—“(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” and “The Christmas Song.” Time would not wait for Granz. By the time the Cole-Young-Rich date came out on Clef/Mercury a year later, Cole’s name had become far too valuable an asset for Capitol to share. It had to be camouflaged behind the pseudonym “Aye Guy.” That session effectively ended his years of moonlighting in the underground of jazz. Granz lost Cole forever at that point, and Gastel had won the big game.
The trio would linger into the early 1950s, increasingly augmented by orchestral accompaniments. Within a few years, though, a whole new generation of Baby Boomer fans would have no idea that Cole had ever played jazz piano. Capitol trusted him with just about anything from teenage bubblegum tunes (“Pigtails And Freckles”) to commercial country (“Ramblin’ Rose”) and even unlikely pop covers (“Mule Train”). But his immortality rests on a catalog of albums done with Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins and Pete Rugolo, and his sub-rosa brilliance as one of the great pianists of jazz history. He was incomparable.
As racial tensions rose in the 1950s, Gastel persuaded NBC that Cole’s low-key appeal was broad enough to sustain his own variety program. Numerous pop singers had their own shows in those days, and The Nat King Cole Show began airing in November 1956. The ratings were excellent. But after two years, no sponsor had dared to touch the program, despite the biggest stars in show business doing guest shots at scale. One episode was devoted entirely to Norman Granz’s current JATP ensemble, the only time it ever appeared on nation television. But NBC canceled it after 13 months, the move remaining one of the more craven examples of Madison Avenue hypocrisy taking cover behind a pretext of practicality.
Cole was of a generation of black stars that kept its politics to themselves. His response to racial affronts and his willingness to tolerate segregated audiences was seen as passive. But if Cole lost that social-justice skirmish with NBC, he had already won a war of far greater cultural consequence and without fully realizing it, maybe because it was almost subliminal.
Some might be surprised to learn that as late as the mid-’40s race protocols in America did not recognize the black singer as an agent of romance. “It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true,” vocalist Billy Eckstine told DownBeat years later. “We weren’t supposed to sing about love. We were supposed to sing about work or blues and some dumb crap.” Eckstine became famous just before Cole by singing precisely that kind of “dumb crap” (“Jelly Jelly”). It’s why Cole’s early trio repertoire is full of novelty tunes and jingles—the kinds of things we forgive him for today because they were obligatory for him in ways they were not for Bing Crosby, Sinatra or Bennett.
But in transitioning at Capitol from jazz pianist to commercial pop singer of the highest order, Cole, his music and his manner combined to accomplish what no performer of color ever had done: make it acceptable for a black vocalist to sing intimate, sexually implicit, love songs to white audiences without anyone breaking a sweat. Later audiences who would embrace Johnny Mathis and Johnny Hartman without a second thought no doubt did so without ever imagining that it had ever been otherwise.
One wonders who might have achieved such a velvet victory if Cole had decided in 1943 to go with Norman Granz and JATP, instead of Carlos Gastel’s show business course. The jazz world’s loss might, in the end, have been a net gain for American civility. Revenge is sweetest when it changes the world. DB
Nat King Cole
by Daniel Mark Epstein
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999
The first major biography of the great jazz pianist and singer, written with the full cooperation of his family.
When
he died in 1965, at age forty-five, Nat King Cole was already a musical
legend. As famous as Frank Sinatra, he had sold more records than
anyone but Bing Crosby.Written with the narrative pacing of a novel,
this absorbing biography traces Cole's rise to fame, from boy-wonder
jazz genius to megastar in a racist society. Daniel Mark Epstein brings
Cole and his times to vivid life: his precocious entrance onto the
vibrant jazz scene of his hometown, Chicago; the creation of his trio
and their rise to fame; the crossover success of such songs as
"Straighten Up and Fly Right"; and his years as a pop singer and
television star, the first African American to have his own show.Epstein
examines Cole's insistence on changing society through his art rather
than political activism, the romantic love story of Cole and Maria
Ellington, and Cole's famous and influential image of calm, poise, and
elegance, which concealed the personal turmoil and anxiety that
undermined his health.
REVIEWS:
Epstein doesn't shy away from the lows, describing the anguish Cole caused his preacher father, the failed first marriage, tax and health problems, sibling rivalry, and the jealousy that destroyed his combo when Cole made the transition from jazz artist to pop singer. But these are balanced with the highs, like the tremendous success of Cole's vocal hits "Straighten Up And Fly Right" "Route 66," "Mona Lisa," and "The Christmas Song," and his second marriage to Maria Ellington. Epstein also cites Cole's quiet battles on the Civil Rights front. He purchased a home in an exclusive, all white Los Angeles neighborhood; insisted on performing for integrated audiences in the south and heroically survived a vicious racial attack during a Birmingham concert in 1956. "Nat King Cole was not a political philosopher schooled in rhetoric or the dialectics of history," the author writes. "He was a clear thinker with sound instincts and compassion.... Where he had gone--to riches, fame, and honor--he hoped his brothers and sisters would soon follow." By he time died of lung cancer in 1965, his artistry had left its mark on the 20th century and on everyone who loved him. As Epstein summarizes, "[H]e paid attention to his friends, his children, his sideman, his audiences and most of all his music." --Eugene Holley, Jr.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
From Kirkus Reviews
From the Inside Flap
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
https://www.jazzwax.com/2019/03/nat-king-cole-top-10-albums.html
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March 13, 2019
Nat King Cole: Top 10 Albums
The
100th anniversary of Nat King Cole's birth is this Sunday, March 17.
Cole was one of America's most remarkable entertainers. His first
jazz-pop career was with his celebrated trio in the 78-era of the 1940s.
Then the pianist triumphed in the 10-inch era from 1950 to 1954 with
vocal hits that included Unforgettable and Penthouse Serenade.
Then came the 12-inch LP era, starting in 1955 and ending with his
death in 1965. A number of these albums featured Cole illustrated in
suburban settings featuring white couples in love. Cole had crossed over
and then some.
In
the early 1950s, Cole's popularity as a singer exceeded Frank
Sinatra's, and the success of his albums contributed mightily to the
cost of the cylindrical Capitol Tower in Los Angeles. For years, the
office building and studio complex was known as The House That Nat
Built. Cole even hosted an elegant national television variety show from
November 1956 to December 1957. If Jackie Robinson broke baseball's
segregation barrier in the late 1940s, then Nat King Cole did the same
for pop music and the charts starting in the early 1950s.
I still remember when Cole died of lung cancer in 1965 at age 45. I was 9. In my neighborhood in Manhattan, his passing was as big a shock as Kennedy's two years earlier. Women wept and men gave up smoking cigarettes. Cole's voice filled the air where I grew up, especially. But as we know, he wasn't always well produced. Some of his albums are overly sentimental or thickly sweet with strings, while song choices could be dull (obvious, worn-out standards) or painfully obscure.
So, to help re-introduce you to Nat King Cole or give you an entrance point if you never bothered to dig into his catalog, here are my 10 favorite Nat King Cole 12-inch albums, in order of preference based on the quality of arrangements, song choices and the feel of Cole's voice. All can be found at Spotify or at Amazon:
1. Just One of Those Things (1957)
is hands down Cole's finest album. On this one, Cole was paired with
superb big band arrangements by Billy May. I've worn out three copies.
2. Night Lights
was arranged by Nelson Riddle and recorded between Christmas and New
Year of 1955. Strangely, it was never released until 2001, when the
album was re-assembled. Instead, tracks back in the 1950s were released
as singles.
3. Tell Me All About Yourself
was recorded in 1958 but held back until 1960. Arranged by Dave
Cavanaugh, the album featured a relaxed Cole backed by a jaunty big
band.
4. Nat Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays (1962)
climbed to #27 on Billboard's pop album chart. The backing orchestra
was arranged by Ralph Carmichael. Cole's round vocal tone and Shearing's
cool piano made for a perfect pairing.
5. After Midnight (1957)
was an early morning studio recording with Cole backed by jazz stars as
special guests, including alto saxophonist Willie Smith, trumpeter
Harry "Sweets" Edison, trombonist Juan Tizol and violinist Stuff Smith.
6. Let's Face the Music and Dance (1964)
was arranged by Billy May. Recorded in 1961, the album wasn't released
until three years later. It's something of a bookend to May's Just One of Those Things. High points include The Rules of the Road, Day In Day Out and Something Makes Me Want To Dance With You, one of Cole's finest tracks.
7. The Piano Style of Nat King Cole (1956)
features Cole at the piano backed by an orchestra arranged by Nelson
Riddle. His playing is chilled and shrewd in the jazz-pop realm. This LP
would be Cole's final instrumental album as the demand for his vocals
soared nationwide.
8. Penthouse Serenade (1952)
was originally a 10-inch album but reissued in 1955 as a 12-inch LP
with 12 tracks and then 19 tracks in 1998 in the CD era. The album
provides a neat roundup of Cole's early-'50s pop grand slams. Unforgettable remains intoxicating.
9. The Touch of Your Lips (1961) was a romantic group of songs arranged perfectly by Ralph Carmichael—strings that were moody, not maudlin.
10. Welcome to the Club (1959)
is an unusual album. Dave Cavanaugh arranged and conducted the Count
Basie Band, minus Basie. While it should have been better given the
concept, the album has its swinging moments.
Bonus: My favorite Nat King Cole song is That Sunday, That Summer from Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (1963), arranged by Ralph Carmichael. Here's Cole singing the song on a BBC TV special broadcast in the U.K. in 1963...
Nat King Cole - "That Sunday, That Summer"
Nat King Cole live in HD with the Cliff Adams Singers from the 1963 BBC special
"An Evening With Nat King Cole"
LYRICS:
If I had to choose just one day To live my whole life through It would surely be the day that I met you Newborn whippoorwills were calling from the hills Summer was a-coming in but fast Lots of daffodils were showing off their skills Laughing all together, I could almost hear them whisper "Go on, kiss her, go on and kiss her" If I had to choose one moment To live within my heart It would be surely be that moment Recalling how we started Darling, it would be when you smiled at me That way, that Sunday, that summer (Newborn whippoorwills were calling from the hills) (Summer was a-comin' in but fast) (Lots of daffodils were showin' off their skills) (Nodding all together, I could almost hear them whisper) ("Go on, kiss her, go on and kiss her") If I had to choose one moment To live within my heart It would be that tender moment Recalling how we started Darling, it would be when you smiled at me That way, that Sunday, that summer
The Nat King Cole Show (1957) | 2 Episodes | Colored on TV
THE NAT "KING" COLE SHOW (Musical Variety)
FIRST TELECAST: November 5, 1956
LAST TELECAST: December 7, 1957
BROADCAST HISTORY:
Nov 1956-Jun 1957
NBC Mon 7:30-7:45 July 1957-Sep 1957,
NBC Tue 10:00-10:30 Sep 1957-Dec 1957 ,
REGULARS: Nat "King" Cole The Boataneers (1956) The Herman McCoy Singers The Randy Van Home Singers (1957) The Jerry Graff Singers (1957) The Cheerleaders (1957) Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra Nat "King" Cole was a man ahead of his time, and that fact cost him his network series. When his 15-minute show premiered in 1956, he became the first major black performer to headline a network variety series. There had been previous attempts at black series, but they were either short-lived fill-ins with lesser-known talent such as Sugar Hill Times in 1949 and Hazel Scott in 1950, or rather degrading parodies such as Beulah or Amos 'n' Andy. Nat's short Monday evening show, which filled the remainder of the half hour in which NBC aired its nightly news program, allowed him little more than the opportunity to sing a couple of songs and occasionally welcome a guest vocalist. The following July, Nat moved to Tuesdays with an expanded half-hour show, allowing time for more variety and guests. Throughout its run, however, The Nat "King" Cole Showwas plagued with problems. It failed to attract a significant audience, and therefore sponsors were reluctant to underwrite the show. From 1956-1957 Nat averaged only 19 percent of the viewing audience, compared to the 5o percent who were watching Robin Hood on CBS. Nat even trailed a documentary-travelogue on ABC, ca lled Bold Journey , which got 21 percent of the audience (the remaining 10 percent were watching non-network programs). Despite widespread apathy on the part of viewers and sponsors, NBC did not give up on the show, keeping it on the air, at a loss, through the fall of 1957. The performing community was well aware of Nat's spon- sor problems, and many stars appeared on the show for minimum fees as personal favors to him, in an effort to save the show. Virtually every black musical star showed up at one time or another, including Count Basie, Mahalia Jackson, Pearl Bailey, Billy Eck-stine, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Mills Brothers, Cab Cal-loway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Harry Belafonte. Nat had his white supporters too, among them Stan Kenton, Frankie Laine, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee, Gogi Grant, Tony Martin, and Tony Bennett. But the effort was in vain. It would be another decade before black entertainers could begin to make a significant dent in the mass medium of television. - The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, by Earle Brooks and Tim Marsh Shared for historical purposes. I do not own the rights. ##### Reelblack's mission is to educate, elevate, entertain, enlighten, and empower through Black film
https://www.cardinalreleasing.com/nat-king-cole-afraid-of-the-dark
Nat King Cole: Afraid Of The Dark
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 people, 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 causing us to ask 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.
Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark Official Trailer:
https://www.sfjazz.org/onthecorner/nat-king-cole-in-5-songs/
Nat King Cole In 5 Songs
March 17, 2020
by SFJAZZ
Portrait of Nat King Cole, New York, N.Y., June 1947, by William P. Gottlieb
Called "the best friend a song ever had," jazz pianist and vocalist Nat "King" Cole is one of the greatest interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Throughout his 30-year career, Cole recorded well over 100 songs (many becoming pop hits), performed in films, television and on Broadway, and was one of the first African American hosts a TV series in the U.S. We look at Cole's monumental legacy as a vocalist through five songs.
1. "Sweet Lorraine" (1940)
Recorded in 1940, "Sweet Lorraine" was Cole's first hit. The story goes that one night, while performing in a club, a drunk customer loudly requested that Cole sing. Not knowing the specific song requested, Cole instead sang "Sweet Lorraine," and so his vocal talent was "discovered." In Cole's own words: "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."
2. "Mona Lisa" (1950)
Composed by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the 1950 film Captain Carey, U.S.A., Nat King Cole's performance of "Mona Lisa" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, topped the Billboard singles chart for eight weeks, and was eventually inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame (1992). Cole repeatedly referenced "Mona Lisa" as one of his absolute favorite songs. A testament to the song's timelessness, Gregory Porter fittingly introduces his album Nat "King" Cole & Me with "Mona Lisa."
3. "It's A Good Day" (The Nat King Cole Show, 1956)
You could pick any song from Nat "King" Cole's TV variety show on NBC, which was one of the first ever hosted by an African American, which stirred much controversy. Despite high ratings, the show lasted just a year due to the lack of a national sponsor, even though many of Cole's colleagues and guests (including Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt and Tony Bennett) worked for little or no pay to help the show cut production costs.
4. "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" (1958)
"Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" (translated as "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps") is a classic ballad and hit written by Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés in 1947. Cole traveled to Cuba in 1958, and subsequently recorded Cole Español (sung entirely in Spanish) and it's popularity in both Latin America and the U.S. sparked two followup albums in Spanish. "Quizas" is another song Gregory Porter selected for his Nat "King" Cole album.
5. "When I Fall in Love" (1964)
Cole's 1964 performance of the Doris Day hit "When I Fall in Love" on The Jack Benny Program would mark on of his final TV appearances and documented performances, before his untimely death from lung cancer the following year. The song's significance to Cole is perhaps best embodied in a posthumous "duet" in 1992 with his daughter Natalie Cole, who combined her vocals with Nat's 1956 recording, which won two GRAMMYs.
https://www.myblackhistory.net/Nat_King_Cole.htm
BLACK HISTORY IN AMERICA
Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole was an African American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished 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. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his untimely death; he is widely considered one of the most important musical personalities in United States history.
Born Nathaniel Adams Coles on March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama, Cole was born into a family with a pivotal position in the black community. Nat's father was the Reverend Edward James Coles Sr. His mother's name was Perlina Adams Coles. Together they had thirteen children, but only five of them lived to adulthood. Nat's father was pastor of the First Baptist Church. In 1921, the family migrated to Chicago, part of the mass exodus seeking a better life in the prospering industrial towns of the north. Nat's mother knew that her children would go to public schools with facilities rarely enjoyed by negroes in the south.
At four years old, Nat King Cole was learning the piano by ear from his mother, a choir director in the church. His first public performance was at the age of four and when he was in Kindergarten he played for the other children. Nat regularly played in his father's church from the age of 11 and was an accomplished pianist by the age of 12. He left school at 15 to pursue a career as a jazz pianist. Cole’s first professional break came touring in the revival of the show “Shuffle Along.” When the show folded he was stranded in Los Angeles. Cole looked for club work and found it at the Century Club on Santa Monica Boulevard, where he made quite an impression with the “in” crowd.
In 1939, Cole formed a trio with Oscar Moore on guitar and Wesley Prince on bass, notably they had no drummer. Gradually Cole would emerge as a singer. The group displayed a finesse and sophistication which expressed the new aspirations of the black community. In 1943, he recorded “Straighten Up And Fly Right,” for Capitol Records, inspired by one of his father’s sermons. It was an instant hit, assuring Cole’s future as a pop sensation. With the addition of strings in 1946 “The Christmas Song” began Cole’s evolution into a sentimental singer. In the 1940s he made several memorable sides with the Trio, including “It’s Only A Paper Moon” and “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons.” But by 1948, and “Nature Boy,” the move away from small-group jazz, towards his eventual position as one of the most popular vocalists of the day, was underway.
In October 1956, Nat started his own TV show. Cole's popularity allowed him to become the first African American to host a network variety program, The Nat King Cole Show, which debuted on NBC television in 1956. The show fell victim to the bigotry of the times, however, and was canceled after one season; few sponsors were willing to be associated with a black entertainer.
Cole had greater success with concert performances during the late 1950s and early '60s and twice toured with his own vaudeville-style reviews, The Merry World of Nat King Cole (1961) and Sights and Sounds (1963). His hits of the early '60s—“Ramblin' Rose,” “Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer,” and “L-O-V-E”—indicate that he was moving even farther away from his jazz roots and concentrating almost exclusively on mainstream pop. Adapting his style, however, was one factor that kept Cole popular up to his early death from lung cancer in 1965.
In January 1964, Cole made one of his final television appearances on The Jack Benny Program. In his typically magnanimous fashion, Benny allowed his guest star to steal the show. Cole sang “When I Fall in Love” in perhaps his finest and most memorable performance. Cole was introduced as “the best friend a song ever had” and traded very humorous banter with Benny. Cole highlighted a classic Benny skit in which Benny is upstaged by an emergency stand-in drummer. Introduced as Cole’s cousin, five-year-old James Bradley Jr. stunned Benny with incredible drumming talent and participated with Cole in playful banter at Benny’s expense. It would prove to be one of Cole's last performances.
Cole fought racism all his life and refused to perform in segregated venues. In 1948, Cole purchased a house 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 in. Cole retorted, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."
In 1956, Nat King Cole was assaulted on stage during a concert in Birmingham, Alabama, while singing the song "Little Girl", by three members of the North Alabama White Citizens Council. The attacking group was led by Education of Little Tree author Asa "Forrest" Carter, although he was not among the attackers. They 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 melee 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.
Nat King Cole Documentary (1991):
Nat King Cole was indisputably one of the greatest musician singers of the century. Despite his short career, he accomplished what no other black artist had ever dreamed - a popularity that filtered into every home in America and around the world. Thanks to the care, involvement and direction of his wife, Maria Cole, Unforgetttable is the first chronicle ever produced on this magnificent performer.
Reelblack's mission is to educate, elevate, entertain, enlighten, and empower through Black film.
Nat King Cole - Documentary (2006):
NAT KING COLE ALBUMS
Nat King Cole - Roses And Wine (Visualizer)
Best Songs of Nat King Cole | Nat King Cole Greatest Hits | Nat King Cole Full Album 2023
August 10, 2023
https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/nat-king-cole
Nat "King" Cole
-
Year:
2000
-
Inducted by:
Ray Charles
-
Category:
Early Influences
Introduction
A honey-voiced singer and swinging jazz pianist who improvised like a mind reader.
Nat "King" Cole’s music was laidback and mellow, but his impact on the music world was anything but. He released hit singles that presaged rock and roll, all the while working to integrate music.
Hall of Fame Essay
2000
Nat King Cole did plenty to justify his nickname. He was a true superstar (even before the word was coined) whose enormous appeal transcended boundaries of race, age, gender and musical preference.
Landing eighty-six singles and seventeen albums in the Top Forty
between 1943 and 1964, he recorded ballads, jazz instrumentals, foreign
language songs, Christmas carols, pop standards and what might now be
termed pop rock.
https://soundprojections.blogspot.com/2016/01/nat-king-cole-1919-1965-legendary.html
Saturday, January 2, 2016
NAT KING COLE (1919-1965): Legendary, iconic, and innovative musician, composer, singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, ensemble leader, and teacher
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
