RMA Presents: “Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole”
By Arnold Gordon
At the August 31 meeting of the Retired Men’s Association, Tim Brooks, a jazz aficionado himself, introduced Will Friedwald, who spoke about his most recent book, Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole. Will is the author of ten books on jazz, popular music, other musical genres, and biographies of some of the great performers of the mid twentieth century, such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He has also written extensively for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and several entertainment magazines.
Interviewed by Tim, the author reviewed the amazing skill and versatility of Nat King Cole, as a pianist, bandleader, small ensemble leader, singer, TV personality, and as a skillful explorer and performer of all kinds of music, from pop to jazz to rhythm and blues to country and western. The interview included rare clips of Cole in movies and on TV in the 1940s and 1950s.
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1919 and died in 1965, but was known professionally as Nat King Cole. At the age of four, he moved with his family to Chicago, at that time a major center for jazz, almost exclusively among black musicians. Nat was a child prodigy on the piano and would sneak out of the house to visit clubs where he learned to love jazz by sitting outside to hear Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone. He dropped out of high school at the age of 15 to pursue a musical career. Before he was 20, while playing piano in nightclubs, a club owner asked him to form a band and he hired bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore, a novel combination of instruments at the time. They called themselves the King Cole Swingsters but changed their name to the King Cole Trio before making radio transcriptions and recording for small labels.
According to legend, he became a singer in 1940, when one or more bar patrons insisted he sing a song he was playing. His first big recording hit was “Straighten Up and Fly Right” in 1944. Although early in his career he recorded for Excelsior, Decca and other labels, the majority of his work was with Capitol Records from the mid-1940s through the 1950s. The label became known as “The House That Nat Built.” In 1946, the trio broadcast King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute radio program, one of the first radio programs featuring a black musician. The trio also performed on many other radio programs, such as the Kraft Music Hall. Cole was a great fan of the Great American Songbook and recorded many songs by composers such as Gershwin, Berlin, and Porter, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular star was established by many hits, such as “All for You,” “The Christmas Song” (a perennial favorite even today), “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66”, “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons”, “Nature Boy” (a huge hit), “Mona Lisa” (No. 1 song of 1950), and “Too Young” (No. 1 song of 1951).
Throughout the 1950s, Cole sold millions of records around the world, making him one of the most successful African-American solo stars in history. His versatility was demonstrated in 1958 when he recorded an album in Cuba sung entirely in Spanish. It was very popular in Latin America and the U.S. and was followed by two more Spanish-language albums.
Cole recorded over 100 songs that became pop-chart hits, one after the other, remaining popular into the rock and roll era with hits such as “Send for Me,” “Rambling Rose” and “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer.” His trio was influential for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also appeared in films such as Cat Ballou, and on television, and was the first African-American man to host an American television series. His daughter, singer Natalie Cole (1950–2015), was a successful artist in her own right. In an unusual recording made almost 40 years after its original popularity, using modern technology Natalie was able to record a duet with the voice of her father singing “Unforgettable,” making it famous again in 1991. It reached the top of the pop charts!
Nat King Cole had been a heavy cigarette smoker and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. He died in February 1965. At his funeral, the pall bearers were among the most famous names in politics and entertainment; thousands of fans stood outside the church with 400 in attendance. His eulogy was delivered by Jack Benny, whose words eloquently describe Cole’s life and contributions: “Nat Cole was a man who gave so much and still had so much to give. He gave it in song, in friendship to his fellow man, devotion to his family. He was a star, a tremendous success as an entertainer, an institution. But he was an even greater success as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a friend.”
To view the presentation, click here https://vimeo.com/745187234.
The next RMA speaker will be Page Knox, adjunct professor of Art History, Columbia University, and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the exhibition “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents” on September 21.
Please Note: Attendees must show proof of vaccination and booster at the door for admittance
RMA speaker presentations are presented as a community service at no cost to in-person or Zoom attendees. The RMA urges all eligible individuals to consider becoming a member of our great organization, and thereby enjoy all the available fellowship, volunteer, and community service opportunities which the RMA offers to its members. For further information, go to www.greenwichrma.org, or contact our membership chairman (mailto:members@greenwichrma.org).
