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KING OF THE VELVET VOICE

 
Published Aug. 23, 1991|Updated Oct. 13, 2005

Nat "King" ColeThe Very Thought

of You ++++

Every Time I Feel the Spirit ++++

Cole Espanol and More, Vol. 2 +++

Nat "King" Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays +++++

Capitol

Along with Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby, singer/pianist Nat "King" Cole has a voice that is as easily recognizable as it is a symbol of American culture in the '40s, '50s and '60s. Before his death from lung cancer in 1965, Cole had put over 75 songs on the charts, and earned himself legendary status in the archives of popular music.

Nat "King" Cole's soft, soothing voice is as heart-warming as a fireplace during an evening snowfall. His tenor caresses each syllable with thick, vocal brush-strokes, conveying a lyric of inspiring spirituality or long-lasting romance.

These Capitol recordings, reissued on CD, display the differing sides of the performer, be it his artistic teaming with pianist George Shearing or his interpretations of Latin and South American music on Cole Espanol and More, Vol. 2.

Every Time I Feel the Spirit is the liveliest of the four releases, garnering much of its energy from the First Church of Deliverance Choir, which at times upstages and overpowers Cole's voice with its sheer numbers. But most moving on the release is Cole's inspiring, heart-felt rendition of Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, recorded less than a year after his network TV show was removed from the air due to a lack of support from national advertisers unwilling to sponsor a program hosted by a black person. Said Cole at the time, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."

Both The Very Thought of You and Nat "King" Cole Sings/George Shearing Plays contain selections previously unreleased on their original formats. On these recordings, the gentle masculinity in Cole's singing surfaces as he tackles the timeless topic of romance. While Shearing's piano artistry asserts itself in The Game of Love, Cole is at his best on Bart Howard's classic Fly Me to the Moon, where the singer transcends boundaries of time, genre and race by conveying emotion across the years with stunning nuances in his vocal character.

At the very least, these four recordings offer a gentle gust of nostalgia, but more often they serve as a proud testament to the abilities of a pop giant who would, unfortunately, never be able to lend his voice to one of Lennon and McCartney's ballads or see man set foot upon the moon. Our generation is fortunate to have had these assets, as well as the legacy of Nat "King" Cole.

In these reissues, Cole remains essential and, as he anticipated in his 1951 hit, "unforgettable."