Nat King Cole - Year by Year - Part 1

Hello to you too, Dale

There's a lot of info around here, and I'll likely try a "reader's digest" version at my website, whenever I get the website back up and updated. I'll be sure to let you know!

No, before tape it was always direct to disc, so just plain "recording" or "transcribing" (pick a phrase). In the music industry understand: things were different in the movie industry.

Well, acetate / lacquer discs but they were still generically called "wax." Quibbling, I know

Bing Crosby was indeed a very influential and vocal supporter of the magnetic tape recorder. Thank you Bing!

No, they used the single track mono recorders in place of (and in the early days, along side of for backup purposes) their disc lathes.

Think there was a twin track "binaural" recorder in '54. Bit foggy on that. Capitol installed a three-track in addition to mono single track recorders when Nat built, I mean they built the Tower.

Should add here that you could look into RCA Victor Living Stereo's history for some of the developments that were afoot in '53 and '54.

In the first few years I'm sure they were concerned with just trying to get the early machines to run reliably.

In that case, bypassing the musician's strike by recording an orchestra to disc in Mexico, flying the master disc to the US studio and dubbing it together with a live performance by the vocalist (vocalists were not under ban) onto another disc. A number of 1948 recordings did this, and a number of others featured a cappella group vocals only.

Yes the music industry everywhere but Germany was recording to disc. I don't know if they did capture any tape machines, but if they did, they didn't appear to do much with them; it was Ampex and others in the US mostly that developed the German tape recorder into the studio reel to reel tape recorders. There's a lot of interesting technical developments throughout the years, and while we think of the '30's and '40's as being fairly static due to the consistent dominance of the 78 rpm shellac disc, on the recording side that era was no exception.

 

Nat King Cole

apileocole: Thanks for those great posts. I really understand a little more of the technology now. And it's interesting to think of almost all of Nat King Cole's tracks, to the very end, as being "live" in the studio. Must of have been fun to watch those performances. No wonder Bill May has a look of wonder on his face in that photo.

I'd almost forgotten that in 1951 Nat King Cole's tax situation almost lost him his house, his career, even his piano.

Nat was apparently sloppy in his record keeping, and owed a lot of back taxes. Back in 1951 I think the very top income tax rate came close to 95% (This is what George Harrison is talking about in the song Taxman on Revolver: "Let me tell you how it will be. There's one for you 19 for me!" Getting to keep only one out of twenty dollars earned is the 95% rate). Anyway, even though a lot of good arguments can be made for progressive taxation, over 90% is a bit absurd. I think it's only 36% now, but I'm not sure.

So the IRS folks, rather than trying to cut a deal and work something out, basically stormed his house when he wasn't there and said they were taking it and everything of value. They even towed away his 49 Caddy. When they tried even to take his piano, a relative said, "You would not dare! That is how he makes his living."

It was a very depressing night for Cole, who stayed up all night in Philly (where he was staying) smoking and fretting. Headlines said things like "U.S. Seizes Singer's Home." Remember how he'd moved into that fancy neighborhood even when racists wanted to keep him out? He had that great reply to a homeowner who said he didn't want "undersirables" in the neighborhood. Nat said, "Neither do I. And if I see any body that fits that description I'll be sure to complain."

Anyway, the only way for NKC to dig out of his deep debt was to deliver hit after hit. But that's what he did...

 

Picked up this CD on ebay and it arrived in the mail this week along with some other Nat-related acquisitions (such as a sealed first-pressing copy of "A Mis Amigos") I'd been hankering for. This CD has some unique bits of spoken material, culled from Nat's 1961 recording sessions for the radio show in which he introduced records by himself and other Capitol recording artists.

The out-of-print CD called "A&E Biography: Nat King Cole, A Musical Anthology" has a much better selection of these spoken snippets, and all of the tracks on that CD are by Nat, whereas "The House That Nat Built" is a various-artists compilation with just one Nat performance: a "special edition" version of "Mr. Cole Won't Rock And Roll." I'm not sure that this "special edition" version is any different from the version on the "Nat King Cole At The Sands" album, but I have yet to compare them...

 

Ben,

That story reminded me of an even more horrific incident in Nat's life: the April 10, 1956 performance at Birmingham Municipal Auditorium in which he was physically attacked by a group of thugs who actually planned on abducting and, presumably, killing him. In mid-song, one of the attackers lunged over the footlights and grabbed Nat by the legs, pulling him forward. Nat fell backward over his piano bench, breaking it in two and injuring his back. Fortunately, there were plenty of police on hand to subdue the six assailants and restore order. Nat, of course, left the stage but the crowd was horrified and confused by the incident. When Nat returned to the stage, he was a greeted by a five-minute standing ovation.

Below are two original Associated Press photos -- one from the night of the attack, taken when Nat returned to the stage to address the audience; and one from a week or so later when Nat's tour took him back to the South for a show in Kentucky, with the predictable increase in police protection.

As others have since pointed out, the attack by the six members of the so-called White Citizens Council backfired in more ways than one. Just about everyone in America loved and respected Nat King Cole, and a lot of white people who never previously gave much thought to race relations were taken aback by the unprovoked brutality of the incident and reevaluated their passive stance on civil rights.

At the time, many black leaders thought Nat was too forgiving and not forceful enough in his condemnation of the attack and of segregation in the South. Thurgood Marshall actually called Nat an "Uncle Tom." But history has put things in perspective. Nat was one of the first black entertainers to openly challenge bigotry and racism -- although he was never one to shout about it. For example, when a Rock Island, Illinois, hotel denied him a room on the basis of his race, Nat didn't issue any press releases or condemn the action in interviews. But he did file a federal lawsuit against the hotel, and he fought that case on principle -- not seeking any major damages, just a court finding of wrongdoing. And he eventually won.

Nat was at the forefront of the civil rights struggle, but he never felt the need to become openly militant -- which wasn't his style, anyway. I think he realized that he was going to gain a lot more ground for the cause by maintaining his usual air of quiet dignity than by simply venting his anger.

I've often thought the greatest punishment handed to the White Citizens Council for their attack on Nat came from Nat himself. Just seven months after the Birmingham show, Nat became the first black entertainer to headline a primetime network television program. I'd like to believe there were televisions in whatever jail the Council members were in at that point, and hopefully the guards tuned the sets to NBC every Monday night and cranked up the volume. Too much to hope for, I know...

Clark

 

I think that's 99% true in the case of Cole and other artists of the period. However, a great article on Nat reveals one instance where it wasn't all live.

The November 1956 edition of PLAYBOY ran a piece on Nat called "King Cole Cuts a Biscuit" by Bernard Asbell. The article is essentially the minutes of a recording session, and more specifically, an account of what it took to capture one 3-minute song on tape.

The session was June 10, 1955, in Chicago, master #13990 (the song was "Wishing Well, but unfortunately it, and the other three songs, including "But Not For Me" were all lost).

The following is from the article:

"The intro is cleaner on [take] Ten" Gillette said, "and the fiddles come off better. Nat's got more presence in [take] Eight though."

"Nat popped a 'p' in one spot Eight, I think near the end."

"Yeah, I caught that," said Gillette.

"I can work those tapes together," Putnam said. On a worksheet before him, under EDITING INSTRUCTIONS, he wrote: TAKE 10, INTRO INSTRU CHORUS. TAKE 8, NAT, BUT WATCH FOR P-POP. PICK UP FROM 10.

A few minutes later the orchestra was running through the introductory verse of a song..."That sounds pretty good," Gillette said. "Let's try one."

At this point an observer asks "but where's the song?"

"That comes tomorrow," Gillette answered. "This intro," Gillette explained "has a lot of strings, but the chorus is all brass. Tomorrow Nat's cutting an album with a lot of brass (THE PIANO STYLE OF NKC). So we do the intro today while we have strings and do the rest tomorrow. Then we'll splice the tapes together. Never know the difference. do it all the time."

It's too bad this session didn't survive. The article is fascinating.

 

Clark: your abilties to collect astound! What an amazing cole-ection you have.

Jordan: true, and thanks for the fascinating excerpts from the Playboy article. But I cautiously suggest those involved intended the article to relate a fuller picture of their roles in their average work, rather than literally and solely documenting one Nat session. It does show what they do "all the time" with commendable accuracy. But perhaps not so much for Nat.

To be sure, many songs are edits of a few takes, as is well proven (which still qualifies as live in the studio to me, btw, as they still must perform all of the music together). But how many released NKC songs were pieced from takes spanning multiple sessions? Apart from effect purposes, like the segue between This Morning It Was Summer and To Whom It May Concern reprise, I'm not thinking of any. As far as having songs with string session intros edited onto horn session songs, well we not only don't seem to have that song, we don't seem to have much of that kind of intercutting in Nat's catalog at all. Also, there are still "popped P's" to be heard in some released NKC tracks. So that's why I wonder if they didn't write off that session as being more successful for the benefit of the article than as a NKC production, thus why we don't have the session, nor perhaps the song mentioned to be done the next day which the reporter asked after.

How are the pictures? Ah in this article, of course! Sorry, have to rib ya.

Ben: It's a great credit to Capitol at the time I think that they put their money behind him on occasions like that. Sure they figured they'd get it back but that's never an absolute given; seems likely they were more mindful that Nat was such a cornerstone of Capitol.

 

Krall vs. Cole

Clark wrote: "Nat was one of the first black entertainers to openly challenge bigotry and racism -- although he was never one to shout about it. For example, when a Rock Island, Illinois, hotel denied him a room on the basis of his race, Nat didn't issue any press releases or condemn the action in interviews. But he did file a federal lawsuit against the hotel, and he fought that case on principle -- not seeking any major damages, just a court finding of wrongdoing. And he eventually won."

Nat King Cole certainly by his success, and his example, was a great supporter of the civil rights movement. That whole 1956 incident that Clark describes so well (and thanks for those photos) was certainly disturbing. NKC seemed to almost "turn the other cheek," and he was almost saintly in the way he responded to such ugliness and violence (although I don't think he ever went back to that state again). I think of him as living out the creed found in some of his songs. But after being criticized by Thurgood Marshall and others, I recall that Nat began to do even more to support the civil rights movement directly, including, I believe, holding some benefit concerts. I believe Nat King Cole personally urged his personal friend President John F. Kennedy to do more to support civil rights. And there were many things leading to it, but JFK was heading that direction when he died. NKC was apparently devastated by JFK's death, and spent the day crying on and off. Just a bit more than a year later, as NKC was on his deathbed he received a telegram from Martin Luther King Jr. I can't find the CD that I have that quotes the telegram, but King basically thanks NKC for all he has done for the movement, and prays for his return to health. The idea is that not only has Nat only supported it with words, deeds, and money, but by the example of his life. I was very touched when I first read that telegram. It brought tears to my eye.

Jordan: Interesting to read about that session from 1956! What happened to those sessions? How did they get destroyed? As far as I know Capitol has at least kept track of most of NKC's masters. I read a story that Columbia "lost" in a storage facility, for about a decade, the masters for Simon and Garfunkel. Imagine letting that happen for such a pivotal group. Apparently a lot of album masters after several years are shipped off to salt mines or other storage facilities, where it is hard to ever find them again. And unless they are commercially viable, few people ever try.

Speaking of commercially viable, I've noticed that there's been almost no response in any US publication to these great Bear Family sets. Back in the early 90s, when the Mosaic set for Nat King Cole came out, Rolling Stone and others made a bit of a fuss about it. Anyway, apileocole and I were having a little chat about this via email, and he had some interesting thoughts about it. I don't know if he's willing to share them, but I thought they were perceptive. By the way, I think you're right, apileocole, that it was nice of Capitol to stand by Nat King Cole. But considering what he did for the company even by that time it only made sense. I think they were doing the right thing, but also making a hard-headed business decision. Nat did have the ability to make friends, though. I remember reading a statement by the President of Capitol in the 50s who said there was no other person at Capitol who ever meant as much to him as Nat--not just to the bottom line but as a friend.

Well, back to 1952. The big concept album of that year was the great Penthouse Serenade, an album of beautifully relaxed piano work, without a single vocal track. I've become very fond of this album over the last year. It took me a while to warm up to it, but now I think it has a special and peaceful quality, and yet still is jazz. Nat's comfortable and patient in the way he plays, and maybe I'm overreading it, but I think you get a little glimpse of his soul here. To me, Penthouse Serenade reveals someone who is not egotistical in the way some people in show business can be, but someone who is truly devoted to the beauty of the music.

I'd have to think about it, but I think Penthouse Serenade is in one of my top 12 or so Nat King Cole albums. And since Capitol released about 40 NKC albums during his life, that's ranking it pretty high.

Oh, I almost forgotten my topic of Krall vs. Cole. Diana Krall, over the years, has done a lot of covers of songs made famous by Cole, and I really like her work. In maybe two cases I think she equals him or even tops him, but most of the time I think his versions are better. Hard to say why. Maybe I'm just used to them. Or maybe it just seems to me--and I may be wrong--that sometimes she's more self-consciously singing a famous song in a jazzy way, whereas Nat is just going for bringing the song to life, hiding his work and making it look almost effortless. Or maybe it's like Will Friedwald says, Nat King Cole had a certain quality of real sincerity that is uncounterfeitable...

 

I know I'm jumping the gun a littel, chronologically speaking, but I thought I'd post this great clip of Nat Cole (whose birthday it is by the way).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hU9Cg16Pc1o

This seldom-seen clip is from Wild is Love, an obscure production based on the album of the same name that Nat did for the CBC.

If any of you think the album is campy, wait till you see this. It's fun, nevertheless, and is a rare clip from a great period in Cole's career.

I especially like Nat's quote of "The Gal I Left Behind Me" during his piano solo - his guests also seem to pick up on the quote and are visibly amused.

 

What a fabulous clip! Did the CBC broadcast include the full "Wild Is Love" album/show? I'd love to see the rest of it!

 

I've never seen anything other than this clip, but the broadcast did, to my knowledge, cover the whole album.

At the very end of the program Nat allegedly put his arm around white costar Larry Kert, which, even in Canada, caused a bit of problem for Nat. As best I can tell, the show received some air-play in the states for a few years after the broadcast.

It's a shame it's not better known. A deluxe package of the record album and the CBC production would be great.

 

Nat King Cole—1953

That was a great clip from Wild as Love. I've had that album for a few years, but I've never gotten familiar with much of it beyond the title track. I thought that was a pretty good song. And it was nice to see Nat play some piano there. I thought the performance was well done, and I think Jordan's idea of a DVD of the performance was good. I'd like to see it. The ethnic make up of the cast seemed a little funny.

Well, I guess we're done with 1952. I'd still like to see more people commenting on their favorite songs as we go along, but oh well...

One last one from 52 that I really like is You Stepped Out of a Dream. I really groove on that jazzy, dreamy, and almost nightmarish instrumental in the middle.

Here's a clip of Nat King Cole singing in the 1953 film Blue Gardenia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-mLNukurk8


And here's the track list for that year:

January 14, 1953
Can't I?
Angel Eyes
Lover, Come Back To Me

January 20, 1953
Blue Gardenia
If Love Is Good To Me
That's All
Annabelle

January 27, 1953
Love Is Here To Stay
A Handful Of Stars
A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet
There Goes My Heart
Dinner For One Please, James
Tenderly

January 28, 1953
Almost Like Being In Love
This Can’t Be Love
Don’t Hurt The Girl

March 31, 1953
I Am In Love
Return To Paradise
Make Her Mine

August 18, 1953
The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot
Mrs. Santa Claus

August 24, 1953
For A Moment Of Your Love
I Envy
Sleeping Beauty
The Christmas Song
Why
Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup

December 3, 1953
Answer Me, My Love

 

Nat's birthday

This appears today in the Powerlineblog.com and is a reprint of an entry from 2007:

Remembering Nat "King" Cole

We missed the anniversary of the birth of Nat "King" Cole this past Monday. Cole was born on St. Patricks's Day, though until Daniel Mark Epstein did the research for his biography of Cole, we weren't entirely sure that the year was 1919. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama and grew up in Chicago after his father moved the family there in 1923 to pursue a career in the ministry.

Cole first made his name as a jazz pianist. He developed an intensely loyal jazz audience with the King Cole Trio, the trio that established the piano/guitar/bass format as a formidable jazz vehicle. It is almost unbelievable, given Cole's talent as a vocalist, that the Trio in fact began as an instrumental combo.

Cole was a child prodigy on the piano, which he took up at age 4. He played by ear until he was 12 and began taking lessons. By age 15 he had dropped out of high school to become a full-time professional musician.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ayQq5AQxF0

Earl Hines was Cole's original inspiration: "Everything I am I owe to that man, because I copied him." Like Louis Armstrong, Cole must have been a man of incredible inner strength to withstand the racial indignities of the era and convey nothing but ease and joy in his music. In the video above, Cole performs "Sweet Lorraine" with Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Herb Ellis on guitar. Coleman Hawkins joins in for a solo on the instrumental break.

"Sweet Lorraine" was one of Cole's favorite songs. Indeed, Cole recorded it with the Trio (Oscar Moore on guitar and Wesley Prince on bass) in 1941 at their first Decca session. I don't know whether Cole's version of "Sweet Lorraine" charted, but 118 of his recordings did, placing him in the company of Crosby (368), Sinatra (209), Elvis (149), Glenn Miller (129) and Louis Armstrong (85) in the empyrean of American popular music.

Cole's career with the Trio was sufficient to allow England's Proper Records to compile the wonderful four-disc set Cool Cole, which ends in 1950 and consists entirely of Trio recordings. It comes with a terrific booklet and costs all of about $25. (First posted in 2007.)

Posted by Scott at 6:22 AM [Powerline]

 

Thank you Dale for relating the article. I'm reminded of a thread here recently about Mariah Carey rivalling the Beatles for #1 hits or some such; let's just see her rival Nat's 118 charting recordings.

Some comments on the year by year topic:

January 14, 1953
Can't I?
Angel Eyes
Lover, Come Back To Me

On the surface, the old saw about classic pop being so homogeneous and inflexible seems true enough. As with any other genre including rock, if you break on through beneath the surface, or crust if you insist, there is plenty going on. Comparing Lover! Come Back To Me in its original form - say, as sung on film by Jeanette MacDonald - with Nat's version is a very dramatic example of reinterpretation. Billy May sends Nat and a full band and chorus surging and flowing down an incredibly swift river of intricately arranged reverie, transforming a musical trip first written by Romberg & Hammerstein II a quarter century before this. Vocally it's not exactly easy to sing in original operetta form, but Billy May keeps it from being easy here in pop form. The timing is enough to nail, but at the same time there's keeping his reading "light" enough not to kink the flow. Sounds to me like Nat is really into this, and pulls off a very tricky task with customary aplomb.

Angel Eyes is a classic and this is, in my opinion, the definitive recording. I would've liked to have heard them try this in the NKC Story sessions, but they may have (probably rightly) decided this wasn't a likely candidate for equaling let alone improving. Billy May's brilliant arrangement wraps it in an atmosphere I suppose we might call Song Noir. This isn't sleepy Easy Listening folks; if that introduction doesn't wake you up, then I'm afraid Little Richard wailing Tutti Fruity beside your head wouldn't help either. We enter a dive or joint (or both...) and to a hypnotic pace we linger on some disillusioned man's paraphrased musings until he leaves us. Nat is also clearly enjoying this piece, and I love his 'stepping' away from the mic as the end dissolves like Bogart into the darkness behind a wisp of Bacall's cigarette smoke.

Can't I? is by far the least of the songs here, but even this modest song has its charm and some interest in the way it folds behind the interrogators musically (can't I, won't I...).

This session is a good example of why Billy May is one of my favorite classic pop arrangers.

 

When I'm Alone (December 30, 1952)

I am behind and I am still waiting on delivery for some of the Collector's Choice Cole albums. I don't know if "When I'm Alone" is on any Collector's Choice, but it was on a 1987 EMI album "The Unreleased Nat King Cole", part of the set "The Capitol Years".

It is a good Nelson Riddle arrangement of what I would call a simple ballad. Nat starts off a little tentatively as he does on "Because You're Mine", but soon he is in full voice. The voice and orchestra are well recorded, and it is a big orchestra arrangement.

My guess on why it was never released is that in the last line of the song, Nat's voice quavers on one note, but you really have to pay attention to hear it. It may not be part of the great American songbook, but I liked it.

Dale

 

Sorry for the interruption to the thread, but I assume if anyone would know the answer to this question, it would be the posters to this thread. I have both Bear Family boxes (as well as the Mosaic for what it's worth). I see (as mentioned in the post immediately above) that Collectors Choice is reissuing many of Nat's CDs with bonus tracks. I know that all of these albums are incorporated into the Bear Family sets. What I do not know is whether the bonus tracks are also on BF, or whether I should be collecting the Collectors Choice CDs for the bonus tracks. Anyone know if the CC reissues are completely superfluous or must haves?

 

The song "When I'm Alone" is on the "Top Pops" title sold by Collector's Choice.

 

I typed this up pretty fast, so everyone feel free to correct anything I get wrong. Looking at the tracks lists, I think the following tracks appear on the CC reissues, but not on the Mosaic or Bear Family sets:

• My Fair Lady - bonus tracks: I Still See Elisa, Here’s To My Lady, O.K. for TV
• Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy-Days… - bonus track: Early American
• Every Time I Feel The Spirit - bonus track: Easter Sunday Morning
• This Is Nat King Cole - tracks: Forgive My Heart, Annabelle, I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life, That’s All; bonus tracks: Small Towns Are Smile Towns, My Flaming Heart, United
• 10th Anniversary - tracks: Too Soon, Rough Ridin’, The Story Of My Wife, Sleeping Beauty, Lovelight, Wish I Were Somebody Else
• Unforgettable - tracks: Unforgettable, Answer Me My Love, Hajji Baba, Too Young, Mona Lisa, Red Sails In The Sunset, Pretend, Make Her Mine; bonus tracks: The Magic Tree, Always You, My First And Last Love
• Top Pops - tracks: Somewhere Along The Way, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home, Faith Can Move Mountains, Because You’re Mine, The Ruby And The Pearl, Hold My Hand, Teach Me Tonight, If I Give My Heart To You, A Weaver Of Dreams, I’m Never Satisfied, Papa Loves Mambo; bonus tracks: You Will Never Grow Old, How Do I Go About It?, When I’m Alone, A Fool Was I

The other expanded reissues are indeed covered, bonus tracks and all, by the Bear Family and Mosaic sets.

Of course, many of these are available on other releases, so you may already have them if you have the Classic Singles box set, the Capitol Masters set, etc. I have italicized those that I personally would consider somewhat rare. That is, tracks which are not otherwise available on CD, or at the very least have not appeared on widely available Capitol compilation CDs.


Keith

 

Superb list, Keith. Haven't studied these releases closely yet but at a glance that looks correct.

Thanks to Bear Family Records, Micheal Cuscuna (Mosaic, Capitol Jazz), Collector's Choice Music, Pure Pleasure, S&P and the NKC Estate, it's a Nat King Cole-ecting "golden age" right now!

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like another 7 Nat CDs to add to my list...

 

Stardust: The Complete Nat King Cole 1955-1959

Keith: Thanks for that list of rare songs on the new Collectors' Choice releases.

As apileocole says, this really is a golden age for Nat King Cole Fans. We're now just starting 1953, but in another few weeks we'll probably be starting 1955, and that will put us into the first Bear Family set, called Stardust. This set is not going to be found in most record stores, I guess because it's so big and because it's an import. But if there's anyone out there who likes Nat King Cole who doesn't have it, I think all of us who own it can recommend it highly. There are different sources to get it from, but one source is Collectors' Choice, where the price is quite a bit lower than some other places, and they even throw in free shipping. Another good source is CD Wolf, which also has great prices and specializes in Bear Family sets. That's where I got mine a couple of years ago. I hope it's ok to mention these places.

You might wonder if Stardust could be worth c. $250. Well, it has almost 100 singles, many of them quite rare, as well as many albums that--until CC rereleased many of them recently--have been out of print for quite a while. If you're a Nat King Cole fan, you'll love it. And with 298 tracks it's equal to about two dozen LPs (Can you imagine someone today coming out with 24 albums in 5 years?? It was probably pretty amazing even then...). And the hardback book by Will Friedwald that is included is outstanding. It's filled with Friedwald's witty, perceptive, and knowledgeable essays about every album and every major song, and has a lot of rare photos too. It's beautifully laid out on high quality paper. The book itself is huge, and I'd say worth quite a bit (it looks to me like a c.$75 coffee table book). And the sound quality for Stardust is very, very good. They mastered the cds carefully from the original sources without messing with them. I think the consensus is that the sound quality is better than most of Capitol's Nat King Cole releases.

Whatever source you get it from, it'll probably take at least 10 days to get it (and that's if they even have it in stock--they may have to order more from Bear Family in Germany), and so if anyone out there doesn't have it, you might want to put in your order right away.

Below are the notes from the Bear Family site on the set:


"Nat King Cole (1919-1965) was the most popular male singer of his generation, and, along with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, one of the four best known male vocalists of all time.
Making Cole's story all the more remarkable, he began his career not as a pop singer but as one of the greatest of all jazz pianists.
Yet by the time he had made the transition from jazz to pop, he had sold more records and racked up more hit singles than anyone in the immediate post-war era, even Frank Sinatra.

He was also the first Afro-American pop music superstar - and still the greatest.

Cole's baritone voice was sweet and pretty, and most of his greatest successes were with love songs.
Still, he had the greatest time of any singer ever, and was equally well-versed in swinging rhythm numbers and blues.
In his combination of tenderness and bluesy energy, Cole was a founding father of rhythm and blues and a major influence on the soul movement – as cited by Charles Brown, Ray Charles and many other later stars. Like Frank Sinatra, he collaborated closely with the greatest pop orchestrators of all time, particularly Gordon Jenkins, Billy May and in particular, Nelson Riddle.

This Bear Family box contains Cole's complete recordings, all done for Capitol Records, of the years 1955-1959. The 11 CDs and 298 tracks contain a combination of Cole's most famous and most obscure work.

The set includes all the material for no less than 16 classic Nat King Cole albums:

* The two piano-centric albums of 1955-'56: 'The Piano Style' (with Nelson Riddle) and 'After Midnight' (with Sweets Edison, Juan Tizol, Willie and Stuff Smith) as well as the 'bonus session' for 'Penthouse Serenade.'
* The 1955 albums with Nelson Riddle, 'Night Lights' and the 'bonus session' for 'Two In Love.'
* The two classic albums with Jenkins, 'Love Is The Thing' (1956) and 'The Very Thought Of You' (1958), as well as the spiritual album with Jenkins, 'Every Time I Feel The Spirit' (1958).
* Nat's great jazz-ballad album with Billy May, 'Just One Of Those Things.'
* King Meets Count! Cole's classic meeting with the Count Basie Orchestra, 'Welcome To The Club' (1958), and another great album of swinging standards from the same year arranged by Dave Cavanaugh, 'Tell Me All About Yourself.'
* Two best-selling albums recorded for the Latin-American market of classic Latin songs sung in Spanish, 'Cole Espanol' (1958) and 'A Mis Amigos' (1959).
* Two masterpiece albums with Nelson Riddle, 'To Whom It May Concern' and his magnificent album of W. C. Handy classics, 'St. Louis Blues,' both from 1958.
* The rock-inspired material that was later collected in the 'Looking Back' compilation LP, issued here for the first time without the dreadful overdubbed rhythm sections that were added after Cole died in 1965.

In addition to these classic albums, the box contains nearly a hundred singles, which range from major hits like Ballerina, Looking Back and Non Dimenticar to some of the rarest recordings in his career, including many selections previously only heard as singles and EPs. All selections are presented without the overdubs that were often artificially imposed in the mid-'60s.

The illustrated hardcover book contains the most complete discography by Russ Wapensky, Jordan Taylor, Michel Ruppli & Richard Weize ever done of Cole's Capitol recordings in this period, along with hundreds of rare photographs of recording sessions from the Capitol archive, and reproductions of hundreds of album and EP covers, rare labels and other Cole memorabilia and paraphernalia.

The comprehensive liner notes are the work of Will Friedwald, that wellknown Famous Author Dude.

This is the first of two Bear Family boxes devoted to Nat King Cole, the second will cover his final five years of recording (1960-1964) and together will form the definitive statement of the last and most amazing decade of one of the greatest stars of all time."

 

question about BBC concert

I have a DVD of a Nat King Cole concert that was originally done for the BBC. On the DVD box it says the concert was from 1961, but I find that hard to believe because he plays That Sunday (That Summer) and Ramblin' Rose, both of which I think are later. It's a nice concert, with a couple of songs I hadn't heard before, like Here's that Rainy Day. It's also in color, which I found surprising, because color tv wasn't yet popular in the early 60s, especially in England. I don't think it could have been colorized, but am I wrong about that? Anyway, the picture quality is quite good. Does anyone know anything about it, especially whether it actually happened in 1961 as it says?

Thanks, Ben

 

You're right to suspect the 1961 date. The show is from 1963, released on DVD as "An Evening With Nat King Cole."

As for the color, it is colorized. (At the very end of the disc, after the credits, you'll see the name and logo of the lab that did the colorization.)

Normally, I hate colorization. But I have to say that this program is one of the very few colorization projects I actually like -- the only other being the well executed colorization of The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" telecast.

When I first watched this DVD, I kept debating with myself whether it was colorized or true color. It has some of that tell-tale greenish-gold tint to certain colors, but Nat's skin tone is very natural as are many of the other colors on display. By the end of my first viewing, I had decided that it was true color but with a slightly different look that I attributed to the fact that it was shot on videotape, not film. But then I saw the credit for the colorization and was surprised! I'm glad they went to the effort to colorize this program. They really did an excellent job. During the first half of the show, the audio balance is not the best, with Nat's vocals being drowned out by the band at a few points, but this DVD is still a must-have for every Cole fan.

Here's what Roy Holmes' excellent "King Cole Comments" Web site had to say about this DVD when it was first issued. Note that Holmes apparently didn't realize the program wasn't originally taped in color...

An Evening With Nat King Cole

A big surprise is the unexpected release (after 35 years) of a video of the BBC TV show made by Nat on his last visit here in 1963 titled An Evening With Nat King Cole. An even bigger surprise is the fact that it is issued in colour. The original show was shown in black and white, as was the repeat showing after Nat died. The many extracts that were used for the programme "The Unforgettable Nat King Cole" were also in black and white, as was the showing of the programme at the National Film Theatre in September.

The programme showcases three of the facets of Nat's career. The first part presents Nat as the ultimate singer performing songs such as Unforgettable Here's That Rainy Day, Day In Day Out' and The Way You Look Tonight and backed by the Ted Heath orchestra. This is followed by Nat's Trio side featuring his Trio consisting of John Collins (guitar), Charlie Harris (Bass), Leon Petties (drums) and Reunald Jones (trumpet) plus his voice and his piano playing on items including Sweet Lorraine and It's Only A Paper Moon.

Finally, Nat presents his all-round-entertainer act with songs like Ramblin' Rose, In The Good Old Summer Time and Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer again backed by the Ted Heath orchestra plus the Cliff Adams singers.

Some the items on the video are not mentioned on the sleeve. These are Nat singing But Beautiful and the presentation to Nat by Ted Heath (the band leader) for selling a million copies of When You belong To Me on the United Nations LP.

Highlights from the show for me are Nat singing Here's That Rainy Day and his wonderful piano playing on It's Only A Paper Moon. Two points I didn't understand from the sleeve notes are that it states that it was recorded in 1961 (when it was recorded in 1963) and that it was previously issued in 1966. (Not here. In the USA perhaps?)

I wonder if the many requests to the BBC by KCC readers had anything to do with the release. If so, let's now try for the Night Lights CD.

 

A follow up question for the Nat audiophiles amongst us (and my last disgression from the theme of this thread)- has anyone compared the sound quality to the old Capitol versions of Nat's CDs as compared with the recent Bear Family boxes or CC reissues? Is there any reason to hold on to the old Capitol CDs?

 

As Clark and Roy Holmes point out, it's not from 1961, but rather July 1963.

A great show, if only for "Here's That Rainy Day" which does not appear anywhere else.

 

Yes, I've made some close, direct comparisons -- and the Bear Family sets beat all of the Capitol CDs (even the 1980s CD releases) I have hands down, no contest. For example, I compared the old "Cole Espanol ... And More" CD from Capitol to the same tracks on Bear Family's Stardust set and the difference was night and day. And even though I always really liked the sound of Capitol's "Ramblin' Rose ... And More" CD, I was surprised to find that, again, the Bear Family versions were definitely superior. My old Capitol CD was one of the first CDs I ever bought so, I guess for sentimental reasons, I still want to like that disc more than the Bear Family version -- but I don't.

In fact, the only Capitol CD that I'd say is definitely worth hanging onto (unless, of course, it has content not found on a Bear Family set) would be the 18-track "Capitol Collectors' Series" compilation that Ron Furmanek had a hand in creating. That disc has some nice, unique mixes and the sound quality is quite good.

I also like the sound and the sequencing of the five thematic "Songbook Series" digipacks that Capitol put out several years. They all quickly went out of print, but each disc in the series is great, and they include a total of four stereo songs from the "Welcome To The Club" album with centered vocals rather than the more common vocals-on-one-channel versions found on the Bear Family set and other CDs. These "Songbook Series" titles are worth getting. Since they've been out of print for quite a while, I've included pictures below for those who have never seen 'em.

As for comparisons between the Capitol CDs and the Collectors' Choice discs, that's not a call I can make. I have only five of the Collectors' Choice discs (those with a lot of non-Bear Family material) and I don't have the corresponding Capitol CDs of those same titles.

Clark