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▄▓█████████▓▓█▀ ▀▀▀▓██▓▌
░ ▓█████████▓▓█▀ [ J U S T F U N . P R E S E N T S ] ▐█▄██▓▀
▐███▓██▀▀▓▀░ ██▓▓█▀▀
░ ▓████▓▌ ░ Artist.......: Nat King Cole ▐▓▀▀
▓ ▐█████▓█ Album........: Great Gentlemen of Song ▀ ░
▀█▄▓████▓▓▄█▀ Genre........: Jazz ░▓ ▌
▄▀██▓██▓▓▀ Language.....: English ░▓░▐▓
▓▓▄▀█▓▓▓▀ Label........: Capitol ░▓░ █▓▌
▐█▓▓ ▀▓ Catnr........: n/a ░▓▓▓ ▐█▓▓
▓█▓▌ URL..........: n/a ▓░ ███▓▓[z0o]░
▐██░ ░ ░ ▄ ░▄▄▄▄▓▄▄▓████▓▓▄▄▄▄▓▄▄
▀▓█░▄ ▌ ░▓░ [ R E L E A S E . I N F O ] ▓░ ▓▀▓█████████████▓▓▓▀
░ ▀▀▓█▄▐▓ ░▓▓▓░ ░▓▓▓░ ░ ▀▓██████▓██▓▓▀ ░
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░▓▓░ ▐█▓▓ ░ ░▓▓░ source......: CDDA ░▓▓ ▐███████▓▓▌ ░
░░ ███▓▓ ▓▓░▓░ playtime....: 50:42 min ░▓▓░ ▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓ ░
▄▄▄▄▄▓▄▄▓████▓▓▄▄▄▄░▄▄ rip.date....: Jan-06-2005 ▓ ▐█▓▀ ░ ░▀█▓▌
▀▓█████████████▓▓▓▀ str.date....: 000-00-1995 ░▓░ █▀ ░░▓▓▓ ▀▓
░ ▀▓██████▓██▓▓▀ ▓░ ripper......: JusT TeaM ▓▓ ▀░ ░ ░ ░▓░ ░▀
▀▓█████▓▓▓ ░░▓ grabber.....: EAC v.0.95 prebeta 4 ░▓▓░▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓░
░ ▐███████▓▓▌░▓▓▓░ encoder.....: LAME v.3.90.3 Modified ░▓▓▓▓▓ ▓░▓▓░░ ░
▓███▀ ▀▓█▓▓ ▓░░ size........: 61,7 MB ░▒░ ░▓░ ░
▐█▓▀ ░░ ▀█▓▌░ quality.....: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo ░ ▒
█▀ ░▓▓▓▓░ ▀▓ ░ ░ ░
▀░ ▓▄▄▓▓▓▓▄▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▓█▄▄▄
░ ▄█▒████████▓▓▀ ▀▓██▓███▓▄
▄▓██░██████▓▓█▀ [ T R A C K . L I S T I N G ] ▀▀▀▓██▓▌
▓█████████▓▓█▀ ▐█▄██▓▀
▐███▓██▀▀▓▀░ ██▓▓█▀▀
▓████▓▌ ░ track title time ▐▓▀▀
▓████▓▌ ▀ ░▌
▓████▓▌ 01. She's Funny That Way 03:04 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 02. Sunday, Monday or Always 02:21 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 03. Crazy She Calls me 02:36 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 04. Spring is Here 02:35 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 05. You'll Never Know 02:44 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 06. Funny (Not Much) 03:05 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 07. I Want a Little Girl 02:50 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 08. Am I Blue? 03:01 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 09. 03:09 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ (It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Come ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 10. Embraceable You 03:47 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 11. Should I? 02:06 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 12. Say It Isn't So 03:06 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 13. Too Marvelous For Words 01:55 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 14. Mood Indigo 03:22 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 15. For You 02:21 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 16. I Remember You 03:14 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 17. That's All 02:59 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 18. Lights Out 02:27 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ [ A B O U T . T H i S . R E L E A S E ] ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy ▓▌
▓████▓▌ on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of ▓▌
▓████▓▌ considerable controversy during his 30 years as a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ professional musician. From the late '40s to the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer ▓▌
▓████▓▌ who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared ▓▌
▓████▓▌ with those peers a career that encompassed hit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ records, international touring, radio and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ television shows, and appearances in films. But ▓▌
▓████▓▌ unlike them, he had not emerged from a background ▓▌
▓████▓▌ as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had ▓▌
▓████▓▌ spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ leading his own small group. Oddly, that was one ▓▌
▓████▓▌ source of controversy. For some reason, there seem ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to be more jazz critics than fans of traditional ▓▌
▓████▓▌ pop among music journalists, and Cole's transition ▓▌
▓████▓▌ from jazz to pop during a period when jazz itself ▓▌
▓████▓▌ was becoming less popular was seen by them as a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ betrayal. At the same time, as a prominent ▓▌
▓████▓▌ African-American entertainer during an era of ▓▌
▓████▓▌ tumultuous change in social relations among the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ races in the U.S., he sometimes found himself out ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of favor with different warring sides. His efforts ▓▌
▓████▓▌ at integration, which included suing hotels that ▓▌
▓████▓▌ refused to admit him and moving into a previously ▓▌
▓████▓▌ all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles, earned the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ enmity of racists; once, he was even physically ▓▌
▓████▓▌ attacked on-stage in Alabama. But civil rights ▓▌
▓████▓▌ activists sometimes criticized him for not doing ▓▌
▓████▓▌ enough for the cause. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Such controversies do not obscure his real talent ▓▌
▓████▓▌ as a performer, however. The dismay of jazz fans at ▓▌
▓████▓▌ his abandonment of jazz must be measured against ▓▌
▓████▓▌ his accomplishments as a jazz musician. An heir of ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Earl Hines, whom he studied closely as a child in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Chicago, Cole was an influence on such followers as ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Oscar Peterson. And his trio, emerging in the dying ▓▌
▓████▓▌ days of the swing era, helped lead the way in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ small-band jazz. The rage felt by jazz fans as he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ moved primarily to pop singing is not unlike the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ anger folk music fans felt when Bob Dylan turned to ▓▌
▓████▓▌ rock in the mid-'60s; in both cases, it was all the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ more acute because fans felt one of their leaders, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ not just another musician, was going over to the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ enemy. Less well remembered, however, are Cole's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ accomplishments during and after the transition. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ His rich, husky voice and careful enunciation, and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the warmth, intimacy, and good humor of his ▓▌
▓████▓▌ approach to singing, allowed him to succeed with ▓▌
▓████▓▌ both ballads and novelties such that he scored over ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 100 pop chart singles and more than two dozen chart ▓▌
▓████▓▌ albums over a period of 20 years, enough to rank ▓▌
▓████▓▌ him behind only Sinatra as the most successful pop ▓▌
▓████▓▌ singer of his generation. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles on ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Montgomery, AL, on March 17, 1919. (In his early ▓▌
▓████▓▌ years of music-making, he dispensed with the "s" at ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the end of his name.) As a black child born to a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ poor family in the American South at that time, he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ did not have a birth certificate. His March 17 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ birthday was recalled because it was also St. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Patrick's Day. He listed conflicting years of birth ▓▌
▓████▓▌ on legal documents during his life; most sources ▓▌
▓████▓▌ give the year as 1917. But biographer Daniel Mark ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Epstein, for his 1999 book Nat King Cole, consulted ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the 1920 census to determine that the Coles ▓▌
▓████▓▌ household had a male infant at that time and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ confirm the birth year as 1919. Cole's father was a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ butcher who aspired to the Baptist ministry, and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ when Cole was four the family moved to Chicago, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ where his father eventually succeeded in becoming a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ preacher. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Like his older brother Eddie, who became a bass ▓▌
▓████▓▌ player, Cole showed an early interest in music. He ▓▌
▓████▓▌ was taught piano by his mother as a child and later ▓▌
▓████▓▌ took lessons. Also like his brother, he turned ▓▌
▓████▓▌ professional early; by his teens, he was leading a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ band, called either the Royal Dukes or the Rogues ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of Rhythm, and he dropped out of high school at 15 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to go into music full-time. The following year, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Eddie, who had been touring with Noble Sissle's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ band, returned to Chicago and the brothers ▓▌
▓████▓▌ organized their own sextet. On July 28, 1936, as ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Eddie Cole's Swingsters, they recorded two singles ▓▌
▓████▓▌ for Decca Records, Nat King Cole's recording debut. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ That fall, they were hired to perform in a revival ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Along. Unlike his brother, Cole remained with the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ show when it went on tour, in part because his ▓▌
▓████▓▌ girlfriend, dancer Nadine Robinson, stayed with it ▓▌
▓████▓▌ as well. The two married in Michigan on January 27, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1937, even though Cole was only 17 years old. The ▓▌
▓████▓▌ tour made its way around the country, finally ▓▌
▓████▓▌ closing in Los Angeles in May. Cole and his wife ▓▌
▓████▓▌ remained there, living at first with her aunt, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ while Cole sought employment as a musician. He ▓▌
▓████▓▌ briefly led a big band, then played solo piano in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ clubs.s ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ While performing at the CafΘ Century during the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ summer of 1937, Cole was approached by the manager ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of the Swanee Inn, who invited him to put together ▓▌
▓████▓▌ a small band to play in the club. With guitarist ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince, the act ▓▌
▓████▓▌ debuted that fall, drawing upon the children's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ nursery rhyme ("Old King Cole was a merry old ▓▌
▓████▓▌ soul...") for the name the King Cole Swingsters, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ later simply the King Cole Trio. The group ▓▌
▓████▓▌ gradually built up a following, with Cole emerging ▓▌
▓████▓▌ as a singer as well as a pianist. By September ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1938, they had begun making radio transcriptions, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ originally not intended for commercial release, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ though they have since been issued. In 1939 and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1940, they made occasional recordings for small ▓▌
▓████▓▌ labels while expanding their live performing to ▓▌
▓████▓▌ include appearances across the country and radio ▓▌
▓████▓▌ work. In late 1940 they were contracted by Decca. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Their 1941 recording of Cole's composition "That ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Ain't Right" hit number one on Billboard magazine's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Harlem Hit Parade (i.e., R&B) chart on January 30, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1943, Cole's first successful record. By that time, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Prince had left the group to work for the war ▓▌
▓████▓▌ effort, replaced by Johnny Miller. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The King Cole Trio's contract with Decca expired ▓▌
▓████▓▌ before "That Ain't Right" became a hit. Their next ▓▌
▓████▓▌ single, "All for You," was recorded for the tiny ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Excelsior label in October 1942. After its initial ▓▌
▓████▓▌ release, it was purchased by Capitol Records and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ reissued. On November 20, 1943, it became the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ group's second number one hit on the Harlem Hit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Parade. It also crossed over to the pop chart. With ▓▌
▓████▓▌ that, Capitol signed Cole directly. The trio's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ first Capitol session produced both the Cole ▓▌
▓████▓▌ composition "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which ▓▌
▓████▓▌ topped the black chart for the first of ten weeks ▓▌
▓████▓▌ on April 29, 1944, spent six weeks at the top of ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the folk (i.e., country) chart, and reached the Top ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Ten of the pop chart, and "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to You," which topped the black chart on October 21 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and also crossed over to the pop chart. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The trio placed another four titles in the black ▓▌
▓████▓▌ chart during 1944, and Capitol released its debut ▓▌
▓████▓▌ album, The King Cole Trio (catalog number BD-8) ▓▌
▓████▓▌ that fall. The collection of four 78 rpm discs ▓▌
▓████▓▌ contained eight tracks, only three of them ▓▌
▓████▓▌ featuring Cole vocals. When Billboard instituted ▓▌
▓████▓▌ its first album chart on March 24, 1945, The King ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole Trio was ranked at number one, a position it ▓▌
▓████▓▌ held for 12 weeks. At the same time, big-band swing ▓▌
▓████▓▌ music was declining in popularity, and many jazz ▓▌
▓████▓▌ fans were beginning to turn to the emerging style ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of bebop, a development that, whatever its artistic ▓▌
▓████▓▌ significance, spelled the end of jazz as a broadly ▓▌
▓████▓▌ popular style of music. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The King Cole Trio ù and particularly the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ singer/pianist then known as "King Cole" ù on the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ other hand, was going in exactly the opposite ▓▌
▓████▓▌ direction, as its success on records and at clubs ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and theaters around the country led to appearances ▓▌
▓████▓▌ in films and on radio. After numerous guest-star ▓▌
▓████▓▌ stints on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall radio ▓▌
▓████▓▌ series, the trio, along with pianist Eddy Duchin, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ was hired to host the show's summer replacement ▓▌
▓████▓▌ program for 13 weeks beginning May 16, 1946. During ▓▌
▓████▓▌ that run, on August 17, The King Cole Trio, Vol. 2 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ (Capitol BD-29), another set of four 78s, hit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ number one. Over the next five days, the trio ▓▌
▓████▓▌ recorded two songs that would add to their pop ▓▌
▓████▓▌ success. Mel TormΘ and Robert Wells' "The Christmas ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Song (Merry Christmas to You)" (better known by its ▓▌
▓████▓▌ opening line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open ▓▌
▓████▓▌ fire"), recorded August 19, was Cole's first disc ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to feature strings. "(I Love You) For Sentimental ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Reasons," though it only featured the trio, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ demonstrated that Cole was more than capable of ▓▌
▓████▓▌ handling a straight romantic ballad, not just the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ uptempo novelties with which he and the group had ▓▌
▓████▓▌ succeeded up until this point. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" became ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole's first number one pop single on December 28, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1946; "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" ▓▌
▓████▓▌ peaked at number three, going on to become a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ holiday perennial and million seller. While these ▓▌
▓████▓▌ hits were developing, the trio went from its summer ▓▌
▓████▓▌ replacement berth to its own network radio series, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute Saturday afternoon ▓▌
▓████▓▌ program that debuted on October 19, 1946, and ran ▓▌
▓████▓▌ until April 1948. The group's recording schedule ▓▌
▓████▓▌ during the first half of 1947 was relatively light, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ but the pace picked up considerably starting in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ August, in anticipation of the musicians' strike ▓▌
▓████▓▌ called for January 1, 1948. On August 22, 1947, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ with an orchestral backing, Cole recorded "Nature ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Boy," an unusual philosophical ballad. Released ▓▌
▓████▓▌ March 29, 1948, and credited to "King Cole," it hit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ number one for the first of eight weeks on May 8, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ becoming a gold record. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Oscar Moore, the trio's original guitarist, left ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the group in October 1947 after ten years and was ▓▌
▓████▓▌ replaced by Irving Ashby. In March 1948, Cole ▓▌
▓████▓▌ divorced his wife and married singer Marie ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Ellington. Among the couple's children was Natalie ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole, who became a singer. Bass player Johnny ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Miller quit the trio in August 1948 and was ▓▌
▓████▓▌ replaced by Joe Comfort. In February 1949, Cole ▓▌
▓████▓▌ added percussionist Jack Costanzo to the group, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ which thereafter was billed as "Nat 'King' Cole & ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the Trio." As of the spring of 1950, Cole's ▓▌
▓████▓▌ recordings were being credited simply to "Nat ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 'King' Cole." On July 8 of that year, his recording ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of the wistful movie theme "Mona Lisa," featuring a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ string chart arranged by Nelson Riddle, became ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole's third number one pop hit and gold record. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ That September, he traveled to Europe for his first ▓▌
▓████▓▌ international tour, beginning a pattern that would ▓▌
▓████▓▌ find him giving concerts almost continually in a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ combination of top nightclubs in major cities and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ concert halls around the U.S., with occasional ▓▌
▓████▓▌ trips to Europe, the Far East, and Latin America ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and extended stays at Las Vegas casinos. In these ▓▌
▓████▓▌ appearances, he stood for most of the show, only ▓▌
▓████▓▌ occasional sitting down to play a number or two at ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the piano. Ashby and Comfort left in 1951, and an ▓▌
▓████▓▌ announcement was made that the trio was officially ▓▌
▓████▓▌ dissolved, but that simply meant that Cole ▓▌
▓████▓▌ henceforth would be billed as a solo act. In ▓▌
▓████▓▌ practice, he continued to carry a guitarist, John ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Collins, and a bassist, Charles Harris, along with ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Costanzo (until he left in 1953 and was replaced by ▓▌
▓████▓▌ drummer Lee Young), while often augmenting them ▓▌
▓████▓▌ with an orchestra. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole scored his fourth number one pop hit and gold ▓▌
▓████▓▌ record with "Too Young," which topped the charts on ▓▌
▓████▓▌ June 23, 1951. His recording of "Unforgettable" ▓▌
▓████▓▌ peaked at only number 12 on February 2, 1952, but ▓▌
▓████▓▌ it went on to become one of his better remembered ▓▌
▓████▓▌ recordings; in 1991, a version of the song by ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Natalie Cole with the Nat King Cole recording ▓▌
▓████▓▌ dubbed onto it became a gold record and won the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Grammy Award for Record of the Year. With his 1952 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ LP Penthouse Serenade, Cole showed that he was not ▓▌
▓████▓▌ yet ready to dispense with his jazz chops entirely. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ The disc was an instrumental collection that spent ▓▌
▓████▓▌ one week at number ten in the album chart in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ October. Meanwhile, he was also looking for new ▓▌
▓████▓▌ challenges, taking on small acting roles in the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ films The Blue Gardenia and Small Town Girl and the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ television drama Song for a Banjo in 1953. His 1953 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ album Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love, arranged ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and conducted by Nelson Riddle, was a Top Ten hit ▓▌
▓████▓▌ in early 1954 that predated similar "concept" ▓▌
▓████▓▌ albums by Frank Sinatra. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Although Cole did not score a number one hit in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1953 ("Pretend" peaked at number two), his seven ▓▌
▓████▓▌ chart entries were enough to rank him among the ten ▓▌
▓████▓▌ most successful singles artists of the year. His ▓▌
▓████▓▌ five chart singles in 1954, among them the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ gold-selling Top Ten hit "Answer Me, My Love," ▓▌
▓████▓▌ allowed him to repeat this ranking the following ▓▌
▓████▓▌ year, and he did the same thing in 1955 with ▓▌
▓████▓▌ another eight chart entries, including the Top Ten ▓▌
▓████▓▌ hits "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," "A Blossom ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Fell," and "If I May." Nine more chart entries ▓▌
▓████▓▌ allowed him to stay among the most successful ▓▌
▓████▓▌ singles artists in 1956, even though none of them ▓▌
▓████▓▌ reached the Top Ten, and he maintained his rank for ▓▌
▓████▓▌ the fifth straight year in 1957, reaching the Top ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Ten (and the top of the R&B chart) with "Send for ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Me." Though he managed one more Top Ten hit, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ "Looking Back," in 1958, the rise of rock & roll ▓▌
▓████▓▌ diminished his success on the singles chart. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Meanwhile, he returned to a jazz approach on his ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 1957 LP After Midnight, which paired his backup ▓▌
▓████▓▌ group with jazz musicians Harry "Sweets" Edison, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Stuff Smith, Willie Smith, and Juan Tizol. It was a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ modest commercial success, quickly followed by the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ballad album Love Is the Thing, arranged and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ conducted by Gordon Jenkins, which hit number one ▓▌
▓████▓▌ for the first of eight weeks on May 27, 1957, and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ eventually was certified platinum. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Meanwhile, in the fall of 1956, Cole became the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ first African-American host of a network television ▓▌
▓████▓▌ series when The Nat "King" Cole Show debuted as a ▓▌
▓████▓▌ 15-minute weekly program on November 5. The show ▓▌
▓████▓▌ was expanded to a half-hour in July 1957 and ran ▓▌
▓████▓▌ until December of that year, though it never ▓▌
▓████▓▌ attracted a national sponsor that might have made ▓▌
▓████▓▌ it an ongoing success. Cole attributed advertisers' ▓▌
▓████▓▌ reticence to racism. He returned to his acting ▓▌
▓████▓▌ career during 1957, appearing in Istanbul and China ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Gate, and got his most substantial role in 1958 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ playing blues musician W.C. Handy in a film ▓▌
▓████▓▌ biography, St. Louis Blues. His last acting role ▓▌
▓████▓▌ came in Night of the Quarter Moon in 1959. In 1960, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ he turned his attention to the theater, putting ▓▌
▓████▓▌ together a musical revue intended for Broadway. The ▓▌
▓████▓▌ songs were by Dotty Wayne and Ray Rasch, and the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ album Cole made of them, Wild Is Love, became his ▓▌
▓████▓▌ first Top Ten LP in three years. The corresponding ▓▌
▓████▓▌ stage show, I'm With You, was not as successful, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ opening what was intended to be a pre-Broadway tour ▓▌
▓████▓▌ in Denver on October 17, 1960, but closing in ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Detroit on November 26. Cole, however, salvaged the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ concept of the show for a stage production he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ called Sights and Sounds: The Merry World of Nat ▓▌
▓████▓▌ King Cole, featuring a group of dancers and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ singers, with which he toured regularly from 1961 ▓▌
▓████▓▌ to 1964. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Cole returned to the Top Ten of the singles chart ▓▌
▓████▓▌ for the first time in four years with the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ country-tinged "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962; his album ▓▌
▓████▓▌ of the same name also reached the Top Ten and ▓▌
▓████▓▌ eventually was certified platinum. "Those ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" became his last Top ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Ten hit in the summer of 1963. In December 1964, he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ was diagnosed with lung cancer. Two months later, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ he died of it at the age of 45. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
▓████▓▌ After his death, Cole continued to appeal to the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ two almost mutually exclusive audiences that had ▓▌
▓████▓▌ appreciated him during his life. Jazz fans ▓▌
▓████▓▌ continued to treasure his recordings of the 1930s ▓▌
▓████▓▌ and 1940s and to dismiss the non-jazz recordings he ▓▌
▓████▓▌ had made later. (In 1994, German discographer Klaus ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Teubig compiled Straighten Up and Fly Right: A ▓▌
▓████▓▌ Chronology and Discography of Nat "King" Cole, ▓▌
▓████▓▌ which pointedly cut off in the early '50s.) Pop ▓▌
▓████▓▌ fans clamored for reissues of Cole's 1950s and '60s ▓▌
▓████▓▌ music, awarding gold record status to compilations ▓▌
▓████▓▌ that Capitol continued to assemble, without much ▓▌
▓████▓▌ worrying about the singer's talent as a piano ▓▌
▓████▓▌ player. (And, as his recordings fell into the ▓▌
▓████▓▌ public domain in Europe, where there is a 50-year ▓▌
▓████▓▌ copyright limit, a spate of low-quality reissues ▓▌
▓████▓▌ assumed flood levels.) But the ongoing debate was ▓▌
▓████▓▌ only testament to Cole's ongoing attraction for ▓▌
▓████▓▌ music lovers, which, in the decades following his ▓▌
▓████▓▌ untimely end, showed no signs of abating. ▓▌
▓████▓▌ ▓▌
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