Unforgettable. (Nat King Cole in General)

Member Name: paulhanton

Product:	Nat King Cole in General
Date:	27/06/09 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smooth voice, simple and timeless.

Disadvantages: Not as well known as he could be.

Nat 'King' Cole.

Some of you may be aware that I play alto saxophone. It struck me recently that a lot of the ballads that I play or practise have at one time or another been sung by Nat King Cole. I then realised that on my iPod I had nearly 30 songs by the man, so somehow he has crept into my life....interesting...so I toddled over to iTunes to have a look at some of his other, less well known stuff.

Firstly I was genuinely shocked to see that there are 22 pages worth of albums dedicated to the man, that is impressive for a man that died at 45 years old and made most of his recordings in an era where to be a black 'superstar' was quite rare.

Now I love his voice, the first song that I both recall hearing, and subsequently playing was 'Too Young'. This soft ballad is incredibly simple in both musical arrangement and structure, which suits his velvet voice well. He was a crooner of sorts, but with a distinct jazz background which comes through in the slight swing in his vocals. His vocal is very smooth, very restrained, very cool. Baritone technically he had an ability to almost talk in some of his songs that took his tone down a little, and in other songs 'Lets face the music and dance' he takes it up a little.

He was not always a singing star, in fact that seems to have happened, by all accounts, as an afterthought as he occasionally sung to some of the tunes he played on piano and more and more people asked him to sing.

Originally he was a jazz/swing pianist and some of his brilliance at the piano can be heard on fair few of his albums from the 40's. It was in this era that black musicians were very much seen as backing musicians to white singers, though of course there were a few exceptions.

When Cole started to sing lead vocals he had a great deal of racism to deal with, even being attacked on stage. Apparently many black musicians felt he had 'sold out' by leaving jazz for 'pop' songs and many white musicians (and members of the public) did not like him encroaching on ground held by the white singers of the time. I find all this quite hard to comprehend in this day and age and cannot comment too much as I know little of the time and place.

The best way to pay any homage to the guy is to just think about how many songs he sung that you might know, yet almost forget he sung.

'When I fall in Love' is probably his best known song and is truly a 'classic' even when this term is as overused as it is today. A beautiful and simple song that completely captures the essence of his talent; Simple, heartfelt lyrics, sung with feeling, perfect timing, perfect tone/pitch and the clarity of his vocal, just spot on.

'Mona Lisa' has a hint of Latin about it, the guitar and strings a beautiful accompaniment to his rich voice. Maybe not his best known song, but along with 'Too Young', the epitome of his voice.

'Nature Boy' a more traditional song that appealed to a more jazz/blues audience.
'Lets Face The Music and dance', who does not know this? Featured in many films, TV adverts and skits, actually a great song.

'Unforgettable', again, a beautiful song, a match for anything by Sinatra, Crosby, Bennett.

'I'm in the mood for Love'...good old jazz lounge song.

I'll stop there with his songs or I will go on forever, well, one more: His rendition of 'Autumn Leaves', a much played jazz classic, is stunning. He manages to slow the song down to almost angst like with little effort and it becomes a very different offering to almost any rendition of it you can hear elsewhere.

What was quite remarkable about the man and his music to me was that he straddled distinct musical styles, adapting and moving with them; Jazz, swing, be bop, lounge and pop, and he seemed to do with some ease, whereas many of his contemporaries, such as Louis Armstrong seemed to be a little 'stuck' in their era and style.

Like many a musician of the era he died an untimely death at 45 due to lung cancer, and also like many musicians of his era, especially black musicians, he is only now really getting the recognition he deserves. Though in truth he probably did better than many of his contemporaries, even becoming the first black man to host his own TV show.

I have not really touched on too much of the politics surrounding the man, though have mentioned it. I am a great fan of musical history and jazz history in particular and really appreciate the music as it is set against the politics and social situation of the time. This is where Coles undoubted skills come to the fore. A clever man, a good looking man with a great voice, he did what was right for him and what he could at any given time. He used his talents well and lived his life as he wanted to.

Great pianist, great singer, great man.

Summary: Nat King Cole.