King Cole Comments No 26Night Lights - Nat King Cole's unreleased albumAt last the long forgotten Night Lights album Nat King Cole made with Nelson Riddle in 1956 (their third album) is to be released on CD after Christmas by USA Capitol. Most of the tracks on this album have not only never been released, but they have also not been covered by any other vocalists. Hopefully more information in the next newsletter. If I Knew - on CD againAmong the 40 tracks by various artists on the double CD MPL's Treasury of Songs - The Standards (MPL CD2) is Nat King Cole's If I Knew. This is the second CD release for this song - the first CD issue was on Nat's Beautiful Ballads Twofer. Unfortunately this MPL issue is also the version with the added stereo rhythm. Musical Birthday CardsIn a previous KCC mention was made of the musical CD birthday cards issued by The CD Card Company. These cards each include a CD from the year on the birthday card which gives a selection of the principal recordings from that year. The CD with the 1952 card (no 540) includes Nat singing It's Only A Paper Moon although I don't remember this being issued in 1952. Nat King Cole - 1947 Volume 2It is difficult to know where to start describing the new French Classics CD (no. 1062) in their chronological series (they call it chronogical) because there are so many interesting facets to it.
Firstly, there is the 8 recordings that made up the rarest Nat King Cole LP ever - King Cole for Kids. Although this LP appeared in the Capitol catalogue (H 3070) and although the issue on 78 rpm is fairly common, no-one has ever seen the vinyl issue. All 8 tracks of this LP were released on the 18 CD Mosaic set but most of them have never been on other CDs or even LPs and most have still not been issued in the UK. Nat King Cole singing Three Blind Mice, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Ke-Mo Ki-Mo (Natalie Cole's favourite song by Nat - and reproduced here with its original introduction) and Old MacDonald Had A Farm may not be the Nat Cole everyone loves to hear but there are tracks on King Cole for Kids (and this CD) which are among his most beautiful recordings. Foremost among these is My Sleepy Head, a lovely ballad Nat made with the Frank DeVol Orchestra at the August 1947 session which produced Nature Boy and two other recordings - There's a Train out for Dream Land and Brahm's Lullaby. Prior to this issue Brahm's Lullaby has only been issued on the Cole for Kids and Christmas CD and like My Sleepy Head it has never been issued in the UK. It's strange that having produced a best seller like Nature Boy Nat and Frank DeVol never recorded together again, the four tracks on this CD by them being their total output.
Another highlight of this CD is the inclusion of the four Nat Cole / Johnny Mercer duet masterpieces. My favourite is the laid-back You Can't Make Money Dreaming but the rarest of them is the humorous Harmony which again has never seen the light of day in the UK.
There are other humorous tracks by Nat such as Now He Tells Me and Baby I Need You ("Crosby needs a Daughter" and "Capitol needs Johnny Mercer but Mercer need Capitol werser!")
There's also the crackin' Wild Root Charlie which was the advertisement that Nat sang for the sponsor ("Made with soothing Lanolin") on his regular Wildroot Cream Oil radio show. The advert became so popular Capitol had to record it.
But it's not all humour, there are two marvellous piano items - Lament in Chords (written by Oscar Moore) and the hard-to-find Laguna Mood (written by Nat as a tribute to Eddie Laguna) and some vocals by Nat that many listeners may not have heard. These include I'm A Little Ashamed, That's A Natural Fact, You've Got Another Heart On Your Hands and Those Things Money Can't Buy.
All these tracks were recorded in Hollywood during a hectic spell of 14 days in August 1947 when Capitol Records, along with every other major USA record company, were stockpiling recordings by their stars in anticipation of the forthcoming ban on recording by the Musicians' Union.
If you have the Mosaic set then you have 22 of these 23 tracks, the odd one out being Brahm's Lullaby.
The sleeve notes are a bit of a mess - tracks previously issued on CD are listed as "rejected" and supposedly it's not Nat singing on That's A Natural Fact and The Three Trees! But the music is great, rare and interesting. Whatever your taste for the multitalented Nat King Cole there's something here for you. Records for SaleAs many of you know I have received many LPs, 45s, CDs, books and videos from readers as a donation to keep King Cole Comments going.
In addition I am selling many of my own jazz and easy listening 45s and LPs.
The following sale lists are therefore available - all priced and graded:
A list of 150 LPs by Nat King Cole A list of 100 45s by Nat King Cole A list of 50 CDs by Nat King Cole A list of 1000 Jazz LPs A list of 1000 Jazz 45s A list of 300 Easy Listening CDs A list of 1000 Easy Listening 45s A list of 1000 Easy Listening LPs
I can send any of these lists now (or as available) or with the next KCC - just let me know. Inolvidable - Spanish Double CDA new Spanish double CD is now available titled Inolvidable (Capitol 7243 4 97872 2 3).
Nat King Cole recorded 37 Spanish language tracks (including the instrumental Tu Mi Delirio).
Thirty-five of these recordings are on Nat's 3 Spanish LPs, the two tracks missing from these LPs were Amor (L-O-V-E) and Tu eres Tan Amable.
On this Spanish double CD there are 32 of the 37 tracks. The five tracks that are missing from this CD are Amor, Saus Maus, Nao Tenho Lagrimas, A Media Luz and Coboclo do Rio.
By leaving off these 5 tracks Spanish Capitol have missed a golden opportunity to issue Nat's first "Threefer" and have as a selling point the fact that all Nat's Spanish recordings were being issued in one set.
Each of the CDs in this set only play for 40 minutes each so there was plenty of space to add the 5 missing tracks and make a complete issue.
The good news is that we now have Tu Mi Delirio and Tu eres Tan Amable on CD for the first time, but the bad news is that we are still waiting for A Media Luz and Coboclo Do Rio to be issued on CD. It seems that with all the various CD compilations that have been issued all over the world that these two tracks have been consistently overlooked.
As mentioned in a previous "KCC" there is an interesting picture sleeve promotional CD single release of Tu Mi Delirio available. Information Required on I EnvyA Belgian radio station is looking for information regarding Nat King Cole's recording of I Envy. Who wrote the lyrics? Was it written especially for Nat? How did Nat find this song? If anyone has the answer to any or all of these questions please let me know and I'll pass the information on. Nat King Cole Trio - Live At The Circle RoomIn September 1946 Nat King Cole and the Trio played a month's engagement at the Circle Room of the La Salle Hotel, Milwaukee, USA.
Fortunately for us four of these shows were broadcast and the best of these broadcasts form the 17 tracks on this CD.
Titled Live At The Circle Room and issued by USA Capitol (7243 5 21859 2 4) it has been produced by Michael Cuscuna (of Mosaic fame) and Will Friedwald who has also written some interesting notes in the accompanying12-page booklet.
September 1946 was a landmark time for Nat King Cole - for eight years he had been building up his reputation with the Trio and he'd been contracted to Capitol for nearly 3 years. He had just recorded The Christmas Song and For Sentimental Reasons which would soon give him his first hit parade No. 1. Even more important was the fact that he was only days away from starring in his own radio series - the first coloured man to do so.
There are eleven songs by Nat plus four instrumentals plus the opening and closing theme F.S.T on this superb CD. F.S.T (written by Nat) is a surprise because it's always been accepted and issued as Fine, Sweet and Tasty but the announcer calls it First, Second, and Third.
Another surprise is Nat's updating of the words of If You Can't Smile And Say Yes. First recorded in 1943 it mentioned that "everything's rationed". This has now been changed in 1946 to "now that we've won the war". Another change to the lyrics of this song is that now Nat is going to "punch a hole in your nylons" whereas before it was "men are scarce as nylons".
Other vocals included are Oh But I Do (written by Ella Fitzgerald), I Don't Know Why, I'm Thru' With Love, Everyone Is Saying Hello Again (written by Jack Segal who ten years later would supply Nat with When Sunny Gets Blue), and I'm In The Mood For Love.
But the stand-out vocal, and there are two 3-minute versions of it, is My Sugar Is So Refined. This song is written by Sylvia Dee and Sid Lippman who five years later would write Too Young. My Sugar Is So Refined is the only track on the CD that Nat did not record commercially for Capitol Records.
Of course, as usual, there is talent in abundance from the other two members of the Trio - Oscar Moore on guitar and Johnny Miller on bass - and they have their chance to shine on the four instrumentals which include Duke Ellington's "C" Jam Blues and Count Basie's One O'Clock Jump.
When I first saw the CD I hoped that it would be similar to Capitol's only other live performance issued by Nat King Cole - Live At The Sands, whereby the songs were joined on the applause to give the appearance of a continuous concert. Unfortunately this has not been done (it may not have been possible) and so what we have is a series of concert excerpts. However this shouldn't distract from the excitement of the recordings and the talent displayed by three of the greatest musicians of our time. Loved In ReturnIn KCC no 24 it was mentioned that Loved In Return had been released on video in America but it is on their NSTC PAL system which is not compatible with UK VCRs.
Loved In Return has now been shown on TV in the UK and if anyone missed it and wants a copy on VHS video just let me know. (Just cover my costs and add a donation for KCC).
Loved In Return tells the life story of Nat King Cole and apart from rare film footage it also has interviews with, and comments by, Maria Cole, Natalie Cole, Jack Costanzo, John Collins, Lee Young, Les Paul and many more. Nat King Cole's Films Videos and TV ShowsThe interim results of your votes in the above poll will soon be available and will be printed in a future issue. If you haven't yet voted write down your three favourite films featuring Nat King Cole, your three favourite Videos by Nat King Cole and your three favourite TV shows by Nat King Cole and send them in with your next envelope. An Introduction to Nat King ColeA new French CD on the Best of Jazz label (4061) titled An Introduction to Nat King Cole 1936 to 1947 gives us 22 tracks starting with Stompin' at the Panama and ending with Nature Boy. In between are 8 tracks pre-Capitol from Decca, Ammor, RCA, etc (Black Spider Stomp, Jack the Bellboy, Hit that Jive Jack, Indiana etc) plus 14 early Capitol recordings (The Man I Love, But She's My Buddy's Chick, That's What, Moonlight in Vermont, etc). An informative hour for newcomers to Nat's work or for the many collectors who only know of his later orchestral recordings with Nelson Riddle, Gordon Jenkins etc. Nat King Cole - The Ultimate CollectionNew UK CD issued on EMI (no 7243 4 99575 2 5) presents us with 22 of Nat King Cole's biggest hits including Mona Lisa, Stardust, Too Young, When I Fall in Love, Nature Boy, Pretend, Smile, Unforgettable, etc. Nothing new to CD of course, in fact many of the tracks have appeared on many CD issues. The least common tracks are probably You'll Never Know, You Made Me Love You and Because You're Mine. Unfortunately it's a full price CD at around £15/£16. Nat Cole's Kings No. 11 - Mel TormeMelvin Howard Torme was born in Chicago on 13th September 1925 and four years later he made his radio debut.
By the age of 16 he was not only singing with the Chico Marx Band but had a sizeable hit to his name when Harry James recorded one of his songs called Lament to Love.
When he left high school in 1943 he became involved with the music business full-time and appeared in his first film - Higher and Higher with Frank Sinatra. Although principally known as a singer Mel was also a concert standard drummer and an accomplished pianist.
He formed his own vocal group called The Mel Tones and had his first major record hit with Artie Shaw on What Is This Thing Called Love. He had two further major hits with Mountain Greenery (4th in the charts in July 1956) and Comin' Home Baby (13th in the charts in January 1963) but it was as an album artist that he was best known and he recorded dozens of albums with almost as many different companies including Decca, Musicraft, Capitol, Bethlehem, Coral, Concord and many smaller labels.
Because of his singing style he was known as "The Velvet Fog" but he himself was not happy with this nickname because this referred to a crooning style while he preferred to be known as a jazz singer.
Mel Torme and Nat King Cole were close friends and Mel's appearance on Nat's TV show in 1957 is one of the most entertaining of the series with Nat on piano and Mel on drums playing together. But their main association comes from the song that Mel wrote with Bob Wells for Nat Cole to sing - The Christmas Song. This was not only a massive hit for them but for Mel it was probably the most important milestone in his life because of the 300 songs he wrote this was the big one and has been recorded by virtually every major recording artist in the world. Other major songs written by Mel include A Stranger in Town and Born to be Blue.
Mel Torme also had a long association with George Shearing and they made 5 albums together.
He also appeared in films and TV throughout his long career and was nominated for an Emmy in 1956 for his role in a TV play The Comedian.
He also had his own talk show on TV and made occasional appearances in the TV series Night Court where the ongoing joke was that Judge Stone so admired Mel that he kept his photo in his office.
Mel Torme had a stroke in August 1996 and died from complications from that stroke in Los Angeles on 5th June 1999. His wife Ali and his 5 children were with him when he died. He was 73 years old. Nat King Cole - Legend of the CenturyNew USA Capitol CD (7243 522817 2 5) issued in their Legends of the 20th Century series spotlights some of the milestones in Nat King Cole's career as well as some of the lesser-known recordings which have fewer appearances on CD to their credit.
The programme opens with five tracks by the King Cole Trio - inevitably Straighten Up And Fly Right and Route 66 but also the neglected When I Take My Sugar To Tea and Baby, Baby, All The Time.
Then follows a few of Nat's big hits including Unforgettable, Nature Boy, When I Fall In Love, Stardust, Funny and Ramblin' Rose plus a few harder to find favourites in Lush Life, Mood Indigo and Perfidia and ending with The Continental from the Nat King Cole at The Sands album.
There's also an interesting booklet of notes on each title by Dick LaPalm who has been president of the Worldwide and Intergalactic Nat King Cole Fan Club for 50 years.
I must admit I've never heard of this fan club before or seen any of its literature.
There's also an LP mentioned that I've never seen in any of the catalogues - Nat King Cole Sings The Music Of W.C. Handy.
The 22 tracks on this CD gives not only an insight into Nat's career but it's also a good evening entertainment from one of the legends of the twentieth century. Recent CDs by Nat King Cole
Dexter Gordon - From Swing to BebopNew German double CD on the History label (20.1977-HI) has the title Dexter Gordon and Fats Navarro - From Swing to Bebop - Gone with the Wind. The first 4 of the 34 tracks are the recordings Nat King Cole made for the Mercury label with Dexter Gordon in June 1943. The other personnel for this session were Harry Edison (trumpet), Johnny Miller (bass) and Juicy Owens (drums). The session was produced by Norman Granz and the titles recorded were I've found a New Baby, Rosetta, Sweet Lorraine and I Blowed and Gone. These 4 tracks have only appeared on CD once before - as a fill up for the US Verve CD The Lester Young Trio (Verve 521650-2) issued in 1994.
This History CD contains 20 minutes of rare Cole plus some special jazz sounds from the 1940's featuring some of the all-time jazz greats - in addition to Nat, Dexter Gordon and Fats Navarro there are some well-known musicians as sidemen such as Charlie Parker, Tadd Dameron, Buck Clayton, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke and many others. Good value at £5 for 2 CDs. The King Cole Trio - The First Three AlbumsWhen the first LP chart was calculated in America in the 1940s the first ever number one position was held by the King Cole Trio consisting of Nat King Cole (vocal and piano), Oscar Moore (guitar) and Johnny Miller (bass).
Now fifty years later the first three albums issued by The Trio have been brought together on one CD by the UK company Vocalion (CDUS 3004).
Originally issued as 78 rpm albums, and then reissued as 10" vinyl albums, Volumes One and Two each comprised 8 tracks and Volume Three has six tracks. All these tracks are included on this CD.
When Volume Three was reissued it was also extended to 8 tracks by the inclusion of If I Had You and I've Got A Way With Women.
You would think that for the sake of completeness Vocalion would have added the two recordings as bonus tracks. But no, they have added two bonus tracks but they are But She's My Buddy's Chick and That's The Beginning Of The End. Not that these tracks are not great - they are, but a chance was missed.
The CD consists of 14 vocals and 10 instrumentals recorded between 1943 to 47 and with most of them pretty well known in Nat's career - Sweet Lorraine, Embraceable You, It's Only A Paper Moon, Body And Soul, I'm In The Mood For Love, etc but some, mainly instrumentals, are difficult to find on CD. These include Rhumba Azul and the two classical recordings Prelude in C Sharp Minor and To A Wild Rose.
The recordings are not programmed in chronological order based on issue dates or recording dates and the notes make a few mistakes - no mention of Nat's 100 recordings for Macgregor although mention is made of the handful of tracks he made for Atlas, Excelcior (written as Excel!), Ammor, etc and of course they get Nat's birth date wrong.
But it's easy to forgive these when you see the reproduced colour photos of the original albums. Titled This Is My Night To Dream the CD has been remastered by Michael Dutton at the Dutton Laboratories and has excellent sound quality. With 24 tracks and 71 minutes playing time it is also excellent value at £8.99 and is a marvellous stand-alone monument to Nat's first three albums. Nat King Cole Snippets
The Christmas SongCapitol are to re-release the original The Magic Of Christmas LP on to CD under the title The Christmas Song but with a few additions. There are three versions of The Christmas Song, there is some dialogue by Nat King Cole. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (which has been omitted from many of the LP re-issues) is included, both versions of Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) are also included and there is a third posthumous duet by Natalie and Nat of a 4-minute version of The Christmas Song.
The second version of Adeste Fideles has only ever been issued on the Cole Christmas and Kids CD issued in 1990. DonationsAs you know I prefer not to make this a subscription piece but to rely on the generosity of the recipients to make donations.
The following have made such donations since the last issue: Barrie Wilson, Stephen Bridges, Margaret Simpson, Chris Thatcher, Bill Brooks, Gary Talbot, Norman Skolnick, Doug Cruickshank, Ken Snell, Peggy and George Whiles, Maria Cole, Brian Murrell, Ray Hemus, Ron Young, Ken Orton, Andy, Brian Payton.
To all of you who have sent anything - money, cheques, stamps, records, CDs, etc, please accept my sincere thanks - you keep the Comments going for us all. King Cole Quiz no 16What do the following recordings by Nat King Cole have in common?
Answer to Quiz no. 15 - all songs issued as CD singles. (Sorry the last one was so hard - this one is much easier). Legends of SwingA double CD boxed set issue by Laserlight (24659) titled Kings of Swing includes three instrumentals by Nat King Cole - Honeysuckle Rose, Early Morning Blues and Jumpin' at Capitol. Other artists include Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and many others. Good value at £8. Midnight BlueMidnight Blue CD on the Blue Note label (7243 8 54365 2 9) includes two tracks by Nat - Fly Me to the Moon with George Shearing and I Can't Get Started with Lester Young. Go to the King Cole Comments Home Page ©Copyright Highstreets Web Services 2004
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