The Ends of the Earth

The 1960s began well. In 1961, Cole’s wife Maria gave birth to twin girls, and Cole sang at the Inaugural Gala for President John F. Kennedy (who later in the year made a surprise appearance at the debutante ball for Nat and Maria’s oldest child, Carole). Nat started the decade with his first concert album, Live at the Sands, and his most ambitious concept album, Wild Is Love, followed by an hour-long special for Canadian TV. In the early 1960s, he also recorded some of his most breathtakingly beautiful albums with a new collaborator, the young Ralph Carmichael, who joined him on The Magic of Christmas, the beautiful Touch of Your Lips, and Nat King Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays, which amounted to a three-way collaboration with the great British pianist, Carmichael, and Cole.

Interlude

This chapter examines how Nat Cole, in the early to mid-1940s, actually enjoyed two careers at the same time; one as leader of a “commercial” trio; the other as a “gigging” jazz pianist. With Norman Granz as producer, he recorded a series of sessions with Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, and Illinois Jacquet. Then, in July 1944, Granz launched the iconic Jazz at the Philharmonic series with an all-time classic concert, thankfully recorded, in which Nat created musical history in a brilliant duet with rising guitar star Les Paul. We also look at other instrumental sessions that Cole made in these years and the people he played with: the Capitol International Jazzmen with Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins; the Sunset All Stars with Charlie Shavers, Herbie Haymer, and Buddy Rich; and the Keynoters with Willie Smith.

The Rise of the Trio

This chapter looks at the musical output of the King Cole Trio in the peak years of 1943 to 1946 and breaks down the different kinds of songs they favored. Although they were first famous for jivey novelty songs like “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” they also played a large number of classic songs from what would later be called the Great American Songbook, and even at the beginning, Nat was featuring more and more ballads in the Trio’s musical makeup. Also, he was cultivating a network of songwriters who were giving him first crack at their wares. By the end of the war, Nat King Cole had risen as high as any African American artist ever had before him, and yet it was only the beginning.

The Birth of the Trio

After Cole worked a series of gigs with Shuffle Along producer Flournoy Miller, a local restaurant owner hired him to bring a group to the Swanee Inn, which could accommodate only three musicians. Cole formed his first trio with guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince. Moore suggested naming the group after Old King Cole and his Fiddlers Three. From 1937 to 1940, they enjoyed success in Los Angeles and made recordings very early for a series of commercial transcription services. After spending most of 1940 in Hollywood, they expanded in 1941, performing from Chicago to New York. They made their first real commercial recordings for Decca in 1940 and 1941 and were increasingly heard on the radio. Interest in the Trio was about to bubble over; as Nat later put it, “For seven years we knocked around, until something happened.”

Assault on a King

By the mid-1950s, Cole was firmly established as the most popular singer of his time. Yet some resented his success because he was African American. Even as the civil rights movement was strengthening, a radical fringe of white supremacists were determined to uphold segregation. On April 10, 1956, four men attacked Nat King Cole in the Birmingham Auditorium; police stopped them before they could do any serious harm. And the attack backfired, as Cole’s support grew even stronger. Some of his greatest albums were made in this period: The Piano Style of Nat King Cole, After Midnight, and Love Is the Thing. He also launched his TV series, The Nat King Cole Show, on NBC TV barely three months after the attack.

Introduction

The introduction starts with the basic facts and statistics of Nat King Cole’s career, his rather overwhelming string of chart hits that established him as the most popular of all popular singers between Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley, and as one of the greatest pianists in all of jazz. It also talks about how remarkable it is that a pop culture figure who died more than fifty-five years ago is still so relevant as to be referenced in contemporary works like the current Broadway musical Hamilton. As a way of easing readers into Cole’s musical world, two of his most popular numbers are discussed in some detail here: the 1955 hit “A Blossom Fell,” a song that originated in England, and the 1943 “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” which Cole recorded early in his career for Capitol Records, which included it on his first album; it became a career-long perennial and signature song. A further “prelude” talks about the state of jazz and black music in 1930, the year before Cole made his debut and gave his first notable public performance, by focusing on the orchestra of Noble Sissle, then playing Paris, whose orchestra included Nat’s big brother, Eddie Coles, on bass.

Requiem for a King

In 1962, Cole recorded the blockbuster hit “Ramblin’ Rose” and three full-length albums as well as his successful “singalong” album, Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer. However, there was also trouble. His new management led him into a disastrous deal that was financially devastating, and his intimate relationship with a young singer in his touring backup group threatened his marriage. Artistically, he recorded two well-received albums, Where Did Everyone Go? and Nat King Cole Sings My Fair Lady. By summer 1964, Nat knew he was sick; he made his final film appearance, in Cat Ballou; completed his last album, L-O-V-E; and fulfilled an important engagement in San Francisco. In December, he received his diagnosis and checked into St. John’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

Years of Stardust, Night Lights, and Fear of the Dark

The late 1950s was perhaps the busiest portion of Cole’s career: in 1957, he concentrated mostly on film and TV work. The Nat King Cole Show had expanded to a half-hour slot, but even though the program was top-rated in most markets, NBC was not able to find a sponsor for it, and Nat reluctantly pulled the plug on it in December 1957. The next year, 1958, he made more than half a dozen full albums and dozens of singles, among them, his first album in Spanish, Cole Español. This was so successful that he spent much of 1959 touring in Latin America: in one week in Brazil, he played to nearly a quarter million people in stadiums and other venues. This was also the year Nat and Maria adopted their only son, Kelly Cole.

Entr’acte

In spring 1948, Capitol Records finally releases “Nature Boy” (at the time of Cole’s marriage to his second wife, Maria Hawkins Ellington). The song is a blockbuster, remaining #1 on the pop charts for almost two months and pushing Nat into a more popular direction. This is also when he introduces a whole new Trio—with guitar (Irving Ashby), bass (Joe Comfort), and percussion (conga and bongo player Jack Costanzo)—now called “Nat King Cole and His Trio.” The new group’s entirely different sound lets Cole explore modern jazz and Afro-Latin music. Cole is also experimenting with the transition from jazz pianist to popular vocalist. From 1949 to 1952, Cole makes about forty titles with his first full-time musical director, arranger, and conductor, Pete Rugolo. The chapter ends with Nat’s first venture outside of America, a brief tour of the UK and Scandinavia that also opened up the floodgates for things to come.

Expanding the Canvas

Throughout his career Nat Cole was always eager to try new things; even when he had perfected the King Cole Trio into one of the greatest jazz ensembles of all time, he was never content to let anything become formulaic. He got an indication of where his future would lie with his enormous unprecedented success with two new ballads, “For Sentimental Reasons” and “The Christmas Song.” He also made his formal concert hall debut at this time, in theaters and also classical music venues, including Carnegie Hall. By the end of 1947, changes in both his professional and personal lives meant that his first wife, Nadine Robinson, and his musical partner, Oscar Moore, were out of his life.