King Cole Comments Issue 21

Nat and Nelson

Still no sign of a release of this long-awaited multi-CD set, but you may have noticed in Robert Rice's USA column in the Christmas issue of In Tune that he lists as a Christmas wish a release of the complete Nat Cole / Nelson Riddle sessions on Capitol. As Robert says - "it would be a sure winner".

New Nat King Cole "Twofer"

Nat's third "Twofer" will be Dear Lonely Hearts / I Don't Want To Be Hurt Anymore and it will be issued in June 1998.

Fifteen tracks are scheduled for a CD debut on this CD, but even the other nine are difficult to find as five of them have only been issued on CD in Japan.

Tracks we can look forward to possessing on CD include Near You, Who's Next In Line, Was That The Human Thing To Do, I'm All Cried Out and Why Should I Cry Over You.

Mike McNally of EMI asked me to thank all those who have phoned and written to him telling him which LPs by Nat they wanted put onto CD (See issue 20).

Apart from the ill-fated Night Lights, this will leave only two of Nat's concept albums to be issued - Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer and Where Did Everyone Go.

Ray Purslow of The Record Centre feels that these two LPs as a combination will not appeal to collectors and that each of these LPs should be issued with a comparable LP which has already been issued on CD. I know many collectors are anxious to obtain these last two LPs on CD.

The Nat King Cole Trio - 1945/1946

New 21-track CD issued on the Italian Giants of Jazz label (CD 53147) includes rare tracks such as I've Got The Whole World On A String, You Name It, Chant Of The Blues and Rock-A-Bye Basie. All these tracks are on the Mosaic set, of course, but if you haven't got the Mosaic these Giants of Jazz CDs can help to fill a few gaps in the collection.

The Nat King Cole Trio - 1947

New CD issued on the Italian Giants of Jazz label (CD 53154) contains 23 tracks of the Trio from 1947. Almost half the tracks are instrumentals but among the vocal tracks are such rarities as Three Blind Mice, I'm A Little Ashamed, Wildroot Charlie and You've Got Another Heart On Your Hands.

Legendary Song Stylist

There is a new 18-track CD issued in America titled Nat King Cole - Legendary Song Stylist. I don't know label, number or track details but the advertisement says "Many Rare Performances".

Can anyone supply more details please? If so please contact me.

3 CD Diskery Set

A budget priced (£9.99) 3 CD set has been issued by Diskery (a subsidiary of EMI).

There's no information on the recordings and it mainly consists of Nat's orchestral Capitol recordings with a few Trio tracks mixed in. This collection is pretty standard Nat Cole fare with tracks like Stardust, Pretend, When I Fall In Love, Love Letters, Smile, Mona Lisa, LOVE, etc.

The quality, as you would expect, is perfect, as is the price, although the 42 tracks could have been accommodated on two CDs instead of three.

There's not too much to commend it to the serious collector except if you missed the now-deleted Rambling Rose CD because there are half-a-dozen songs from that CD. The one redeeming feature for me is the CD debut of That's All There Is.Catalogue number is HR 883452.

The Nat King Cole 1998 UK Radio Tribute

A one-hour radio tribute was produced by the BBC this year with interviews and comments from Johnny Mathis, Natalie Cole, etc.

It wasn't just Nat's hits that they played but a few of the lesser heard songs.

The highlight for me was a fairly long version of the theme Nat used to close his later TV shows It's Just About That Time Again.

This was edited out when the programmes were shown on TV Channel 4, and of course Nat never recorded it commercially.

The Jo Stafford Story

This Jasmine UK CD (2544) contains two tracks featuring Nat on piano - I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time and Ridin' On the Gravy Train.

The Very Thought Of You

This 1958 LP has been reissued in the USA on a gold ultra CD by DCC compact classics. It's also available in 180 grain virgin vinyl.

In Tune Magazine

Please be reminded of In Tune, the only magazine in the UK to provide news, reviews and latest issues of our sort of music.

For a copy of In Tune contact Colin Morgan, 12 Caer Gofaint, Groes, Denbigh, Clwyd, LL16 5YT.

The Nat King Cole Discography

Please let me know if you are interested in my 400-page Nat King Cole Discography or any of my other books (The UK Singles, The Worldwide CDs, The USA LPs, The Films, Videos, Radio Shows and TV Shows, The Transcriptions, etc). Contact me and I will send you full details.

Lost And Found

We have a little space available for readers to list items by Nat that they would like to buy or sell. If you have anything in this category please send me details.

Brian O'Shea is looking for the UK CD Nat King Cole At The Movies

Alan Burton is looking for the Mosaic Set (LP or CD)

Don Angus is looking for the Mosaic Set (LP or CD)

If you have any of the above please let me know and I'll put you in touch.

Winter Is Coming

An unusual CD has been issued by the Italian company Harmony Music on its Dog 'N Bone label.

Nothing unusual about the music - it's Nat's 16 Decca recordings made under his own name. It's the presentation that's different. Its issued in a round coloured tin with a black dog on the front in the snow. The title of the CD is Winter Is Coming, and the number is DNR 034.

Prestige's Jazz Series

UK Prestige are issuing a series of budget CDs by various artists titled The Golden Age of Jazz. Volume Four (Prestige 34) includes Got A Penny, Volume Seven (Prestige 37) includes Vom Vim Veedle.

Nat King Cole's Kings - No 6 - Billy May

Billy May was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 10 November 1916. Before settling on the trumpet as his main instrument, Billy played the piano, the tuba and the trombone.

In 1939 he joined the Charlie Barnet band and arranged Charlie's best ever selling record Cherokee. In 1940 Billy left Charlie Barnet and joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He stayed with Glenn for two years, playing the trumpet and arranging may of Glenn's most popular tunes including Blues In The Night. He also appeared in two films at this time Orchestra Wives and Sun Valley Serenade.

When Glenn Miller disbanded in 1942 Billy May was engaged as staff arranger for NBC and soon his talent was in great demand by stars such as Bing Crosby, Red Skelton and Phil Harris to provide arrangements for their radio shows.

In the late 1940's he joined the newly formed Capitol record company and soon found many outlets for his talents - a series of children's records that sold well (including Sparky's Magic Piano, Bozo The Clown and the million-selling I Taut I Saw A Puddy Tat); arrangements and accompaniments for many top line stars of the day including Nat King Cole, Margaret Whiting, Frank Sinatra, Ella Mae Morse, Nellie Lutcher and Johnny Mercer; and a series of dance albums with Arthur Murray arranged in his own inimitable way and which showed he was more than just an arranger.

From these dance albums Capitol decided that Billy should record in his own right and from the new Billy May sound of Slurping Saxes came many instrumental hits including Fat Man Boogie, Unforgettable, High Moon and Charmaine.

These recordings were so successful that he was able to tour with his own band and issue over 30 albums under his own name including Sorta May, Sorta Dixie, Billy May's Big Fat Brass, Bill's Bag, Fancy Dancin' and A Band Is Born.

Billy May made his first recording with Nat King Cole on 4 September 1951 (Walkin' My Baby Back Home) and his last on 22 November 1961 (Moon Love). During this time they recorded 42 tracks together including two albums (Just One Of Those Things) in 1957 and Let's Face The Music And Dance in 1961); their biggest hits were Walkin' My Baby Back Home, Lover Come Back To Me, Can't I, Papa Loves Mambo, Open Up The Dog House (with Dean Martin) and Send For Me.

40 of the 42 tracks are on the double CD Nat King Cole - The Billy May Sessions issued in 1993. The two tracks missing are of the single made with Dean Martin.

During the years Billy has arranged and conducted for all the top recording artists including Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Dean Martin. He has also been prominent and successful in television (including Batman and The Naked City) and films (including Johnny Cool and Sergeant's Three). Today Billy is in his eighties and lives in southern California and is still working.

King Cole Trio - V-Discs

Published in America by Movieplay (no catalogue number!) is a CD containing 18 of Nat King Cole's 21 V-discs.

V-discs were issued during (and just after) World War II to the American servicemen. They were made as 12 inch - 78 rpm records and some contained special recordings made and donated by thousands of American recording artists. Others were standard company recordings. This CD has three of Nat's V-discs missing - they are three of the five instrumentals A Trio Grooves in Brooklyn, (Nat's answer to the movie A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), Lester Leaps In and Sweet Lorraine (the Metronome All Stars version with Nat on piano and a vocal by Frank Sinatra).

There's no reason why these three should have been left off, because they have all been previously issued on CD. No information is given about the recordings such as recording dates, personnel, etc., but it does state that the recordings are unaltered from the originals and that they are produced by Digi Digiannatonio.

Digi was one of the original producers of the V-discs and was in charge of the Navy V-disc programme. Apparently he kept a mint copy of each V-disc and he's been awaiting the right time to issue them. If this is so, what's happened to the three missing tracks? and why are some of the tracks so scratchy? I've heard cleaner versions of some of them, particularly four of the last five tracks, and especially the last two, which for some reason have been joined together, although originally they were issued back-to-back.

Because they are joined as one track a large part of All For You is obliterated by the start of I Can't See For Looking. About half the tracks have been clipped on transfer to CD (some at the start but mainly at the end of the track) to eliminate extraneous noise, but unfortunately they've been clipped too close to the music, in fact they cut so close on Frim Fram Sauce that they cut off the last few notes of Nat's piano.

In spite of these faults it's great to have these V-discs on one CD and majority of them sound really fresh. Six of these tracks are remakes of Capitol recordings and three (Any Old Time, A Pile O' Cole and Solid Potato Salad) were recorded only for V-discs and transcriptions. All except one have been previously released in CD format, eight of them on the Massive CD set. The one exception is Route 66 which, recorded for V-discs, is here making its CD debut.

Incidentally Nat meets June is the original 78 release i.e. Take One. My own particular favourites are Any Old Time, Bring Another Drink and Embraceable You.

This CD is available in the UK from Ray Purslow at the Record Centre (telephone +44-(0)121-359-7399).

Recent CDs by Nat King Cole

The Nat King Cole Songbook

Five CDs are being released by Capitol in America on 16 June 1998 in a series called the Nat King Cole Songbook. The CDs will be sold separately.

Titles are:

1. The Nat King Cole Songbook of Standards

2. The Nat King Cole Summer Songbook

3. The Nat King Cole Showtime Songbook

4. The Nat King Cole Songbook For Love

5. The Nat King Cole Blues And Gospel Songbook

The CDs are being imported into the UK and will be on sale on 8 June 1998, just before their US release. They are being released in "special packaging".

Recall - The CD

There's a company called Recall that's been advertising a three CD set by Nat King Cole.

Unfortunately they do not know the tracks on it. I have 'phoned their London Office and their Plymouth Office and written to them twice but all to no avail - no-one at the company can tell me what tracks are on it or where I can find out.

They suggest we send for the £30 set plus £3.99 postage. If we don't like the track selection we can send it back (and pay the postage) and get back our £30. So it will only cost us two pounds postage costs to find track details. Pass.

"When I Fall In Love" In Spanish

New German CD Single (Elektra PRCD 394 has Natalie Cole singing When I Fall In Love in Spanish (Nat King Cole still sings in English, of course). It also contains the English version plus 2 tracks by Natalie from her Stardust LP.

Bing Crosby And Friends - The Radio Years

This 20-track UK CD on Hallmark 303372 includes May The Good Lord Bless And Keep You by Bing, Nat King Cole and the Andrew Sisters.

New Book On Nat King Cole

Daniel Epstein of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, tells me that he is under contract to New York publishers Farrar, Strauss and Giroux to write the Biography of Nat King Cole.