Nat Coll

Nat King Cole's collaborations with Gordon Jenkins rank among the finest from either artist or arranger. Cole's first stereophonic long player, 1957's Love Is the Thing remains the epitome of the pair's undeniable compatibility, and it topped the album charts for eight weeks. The opener "When I Fall in Love" is considered by many to be nothing short of definitive; the restrained orchestration perfectly adapts to the singer's verdant vocals. Similarly, "Stardust" sparkles as a flawless musical alliance is formed with Cole's warm and inviting narrative weaving over Jenkins' intimate score. Simply stated, both songs are unmitigated masterworks - and we're only two cuts into the dozen-song LP…

This is the third and final collection to feature the team of Nat King Cole and Gordon Jenkins (arranger). Their earlier collaborations yielded the uniformly superior chart-topper Love Is the Thing (1957) and follow-up The Very Thought of You (1958). As the moniker suggests, there is a perceptible poignancy and longing weaved throughout Jenkins' arrangements. The opener "Where Did Everyone Go?" possesses a solitude accentuated by responsive instrumentation that supports, yet never intrudes. Cole's practically conversational delivery of pop standards - such as Irving Berlin's "Say It Isn't So" or Johnny Mercer's "When the World Was Young" - become musical soliloquies with the score as a sonic subtext…

In the days when recording artists did not write their own material, it was not unusual for them to record more material than actually fit into record companies' release schedules. As this album makes abundantly clear, that was the case with Nat "King" Cole. Between December 20, 1955, and January 21, 1955, Cole held a series of recording sessions with arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle. Cole was near the peak of his commercial appeal, but this was also a transitional period in the record business, with rock & roll coming in and claiming a big chunk of the pop singles charts. Though a Capitol Records press release refers to this material as "an unissued studio album," it's more likely that the recording dates were intended as singles sessions rather than constituting an album project…

Ghostlight Deluxe, an imprint of Ghostlight Records, will release For Centennial Reasons: 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole – the new album from the John Pizzarelli Trio – in physical, digital and streaming formats on Friday, February 8. Following high-profile collaborations with Sir Paul McCartney and Michael McDonald, Pizzarelli returns to his roots to honor his hero, the legendary jazz/pop vocalist and pianist Nat King Cole, whose centennial is being celebrated around the world this year with various concerts, books and recordings. For Centennial Reasons… completes an epic trio of Pizzarelli albums saluting Cole, starting with Dear Mr. Cole, which helped put Pizzarelli on the map as an influential jazz guitarist and singer in 1994, and continuing with P.S. Mr. Cole, which cemented his legacy five years later.

Nat King Cole possessed one of the most accessible and appealing voices of any singer in the 1950s. This ballad-oriented set puts the emphasis completely on his voice (there is no piano playing or any hint of his jazz-oriented past) and features Cole accompanied by Gordon Jenkins' sweet arrangements for a string orchestra…

Nat King Cole's album 10th Anniversary proved to be an interesting watershed in his career. First finding fame as a popular jazz pianist leading a trio, Cole gradually added more and more vocals until he had pretty much left jazz behind for a full-time career as a singer. This compilation, issued on LP in 1955, drew from unreleased recordings from both his jazz and easy listening sessions. One can hear Cole's growth as a singer in his jazz tracks, scatting a bit in his "Lulubelle," though it is his impressive piano that dominates another original, "I'm an Errand Boy for Rhythm." "Peaches" is a rather pedestrian affair with the heavy-handed bongos of Jack Costanzo proving to be more of a distraction than a benefit. The easy listening vocals are a mixed bag. "Too Soon" is overwhelmed by Nelson Riddle's strings, though Dave Cavanaugh's campy Western satire "Rough Ridin'" fares better. Liner note writer James Ritz sings praises for Les Baxter's scoring of the ballad "The Story of My Wife," though the bland arrangement and melody bring to mind the prevailing attitude among other arrangers of the '50s ("The less Baxter, the better!").

Capitol Records took This Is Sinatra!, a compilation album, into the Top Ten in early 1957, which probably prompted the label to assemble a similar collection, This Is Nat "King" Cole, later in the year. Consisting of tracks not previously issued on a Cole LP, the disc contains seven recent Billboard singles chart entries among its 12 selections – "Too Young to Go Steady" (which reached number 21), "Forgive My Heart" (13), "Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You" (72), "To the Ends of the Earth" (25), "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life" (57), "Someone You Love" (13), and "Never Let Me Go" (79) – while an eighth song, "That's All," was the B-side of the 1953 Top 20 hit "Lover, Come Back to Me!" "Too Young to Go Steady," which peaked in April 1956, turned out to be all that was really heard of a stage musical intended for Broadway, Strip for Action, with songs by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson, which closed out of town. "I Just Found Out About Love" and "Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow," two more songs from that ill-fated show, are among the previously unheard tracks unearthed for this compilation.

This excellent box set covers Nat's career from the beginning through about 1954. The sound is extremely good though there is noticeable background static on some of the older tracks. Only a very few tracks contain enough noise to be quite noticeable. Rather than restricting the content to his singing career, this set also includes Nat as a jazz pianist, as an accompanying pianist and as part of the Nat King Cole Trio which preceeded his latest career as a solo singer.

This volume of Capitol/EMI's Legends Of The 20th Century profiles Nat King Cole, tracing his work as a jazz pianist and a massively popular singer. Both sides of Cole's talent are explored in this 22-track album, which includes "Nature Boy," "Unforgettable," "When I Fall In Love" and other vocal hits as well as jazz works like "Straighten Up And Fly Right," "When I Take My Sugar To Tea," "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and "Body And Soul." A fine sampling of highlights from both of Cole's careers.