Re-Issued Nat King Cole Is Elegant, Understated

DATE November 22, 2007 ACCOUNT NUMBER N/A
TIME 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM AUDIENCE N/A
NETWORK NPR
PROGRAM Fresh Air

Filler: By policy of WHYY, this information is restricted and has
been omitted from this transcript

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Review: Kevin Whitehead on a single-CD release of two Nat King
Cole LPs, "Welcome to the Club" and "Tell Me About Yourself"
TERRY GROSS, host:

Nat King Cole started out as a jazz pianist, but by the late 1950s he'd
morphed into one of America's most high profile pop singers and the first
African-American to have his own network TV variety show. There's a new
series of Nat Cole reissues, recorded in the '50s and '60s. Kevin Whitehead
reviews one from that series, a 1958 recording which finds Cole in the company
of one of the greatest of the jazz big bands.

(Soundbite of "Avalon")

Mr. NAT KING COLE: (Singing) I left my love in Avalon
And sailed away
I dream of her and Avalon
From dusk till dawn
And so I think I'll travel on
To Avalon

(End of soundbite)

Mr. KEVIN WHITEHEAD: Nat King Cole with the Count Basie Orchestra, minus
Basie at the piano, from Cole's newly-reissued album "Welcome to the Club."
Singing Al Jolson's 1920 "Avalon" isn't its only retro touch. The whole idea
of a singer fronting a big band pretty much faded with World War II. Basie's
1950s orchestra was slicker and brassier than his 1930s outfit, but they could
still blast the blues.

As a singer, Nat Cole tended towards understatement. His imperturbable
elegance and a dinner jacket looks ahead to Sean Connery's James Bond. But it
can be a little odd to hear Cole underplay the sort of material Basie gave to
blues shouters like Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams.

(Soundbite of music)

Mr. COLE: (Singing) It was early one Monday morning
And I was on my way to school
It was early one Monday morning
When I was on my way to school
That was the morning
When I broke my mother's rule

(End of soundbite)

Mr. WHITEHEAD: I'm not knocking understatement. It works for Nat King Cole,
though he may sound a little too cool and collected on Billie Holiday's
vehicle "Crazy, He Calls Me." Still, Cole can belt out a tune when he wants
to. One newly issued number here is a happily trashy adaptation of "The
Habanera" from Bizet's opera "Carmen."

(Soundbite of "Madrid")

Mr. COLE: (Singing) She was to me a serenade
A melody that my heart had played
But all too soon I had to go
She understood that I loved her so

I waved goodbye, she waved goodbye
And from my window I could see her cry
I went away, and when I did
I left my heart with her in old Madrid

(End of soundbite)

Mr. WHITEHEAD: The new series of Nat King Cole reissues on the Collectors'
Choice label runs to nine volumes so far, each of which fits two LPs onto a
single CD.

The album we've been listening to, "Welcome to the Club," is paired with
another session released in 1959, "Tell Me All About Yourself." No Basie band
this time, but as both albums were arranged by the capable if little known
Dave Cavanaugh, you may miss where the Basie-ites clock and a studio orchestra
clocks in.

(Soundbite of "Tell Me All About Yourself")

Mr. COLE: (Singing) Tell me all your worries, all your fears
Things you like to see and do
Pour out the story of your childhood
I'm all ears
Bring me up to date on you

Get the family album
Filed away on the shelf
You fascinate me
Talk and elate me
Tell me all about yourself

(End of soundbite)

Mr. WHITEHEAD: These new reissues confirmed the range of material Nat Cole
recorded. There are big band and orchestra dates arranged by Nelson Riddle
and the underrated Billy May, tunes for the country music market, albums in
Spanish partly recorded in Cuba and Mexico, and one disc where Cole just plays
jazz and cocktail piano. One album has gussied up remakes of songs from the
only film Nat Cole starred in, "St. Louis Blues." That fanciful biopic of
composer W.C. Handy showed Cole was no actor, but he was one of the 20th
century's great pop singers. If you're looking for stocking stuffers for fans
of classic pop, a couple of these CDs would hit the spot.

(Soundbite of "The Best Thing for You")

Mr. COLE: (Singing) Every day to myself, I say,
Point the way, what will it be?

I ask myself what's the best thing for you
And myself and I seem to agree
That the best thing for you
Yes, the best thing for you would be me

(End of soundbite)

GROSS: Kevin Whitehead teaches English and American Studies at the University
of Kansas, and he's a jazz columnist for emusic.com. He reviewed "Welcome to
the Club/Tell Me All About Yourself," one in a series of CDs featuring the
music of Nat Cole on the EMI label.

You can download podcasts of our show on our Web site, freshair.npr.org.

(Soundbite of "Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere")

Mr. COLE: (Singing) Any time, any day, anywhere
Say the word, you'll be heard
I'll be there

(End of soundbite)

(Credits)

GROSS: All of us at FRESH AIR wish you a good holiday.

(Credits)

GROSS: I'm Terry Gross.
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