In recent columns for The Syncopated Times, I have reviewed reissues compiled by Alan Eichler for the Jasmine label of Nat and Freddie Cole’s lesser-known but talented brothers Ike and Eddie Cole. Now it is Maria Cole’s turn.
Maria Ellington Cole (1922-2012) was born as Maria Antoinette Hawkins. In 1943 she married Spurgeon Ellington but unfortunately he died during World War II. A fine singer with an attractive voice, she worked with Benny Carter and briefly with the big bands of Count Basie and Fletcher Henderson. Her greatest fame as a singer was during her period with Duke Ellington. Billed as Maria (so listeners would not think that she was related to Duke), she sang “The Blues” section of his Black, Brown and Beige suite (originally performed by Betty Roche) at Ellington’s 1944 Carnegie Hall concert and joined in with Al Hibbler, Joya Sherrill, and Kay Davis on their rousing studio recording of “It Don’t Mean A Thing” in 1945.
She left Duke Ellington in 1946 and in 1948 married Nat King Cole; their marriage lasted until his death in 1965. While largely retired from singing while she raised five children (including Natalie Cole), Maria Cole recorded four singles with her husband, four other singles as a soloist in 1956, and two albums of her own: A Girl They Called Maria (1954) and Maria Cole (1960).
All of that music has now been reissued by Jasmine as the single-CD The Talk Of The Town. It starts with the four singles from 1950 on which Maria plays a supporting role to her world famous husband, being very much in the background on the first two numbers. Her singing is spirited but not too memorable. Her two albums and her later singles find her mostly singing ballads with an occasional medium-tempo number while joined by pretty straight orchestral arrangements by either George Siravo or Billy Vaughan. The later album has a few attempts at utilizing rock and roll style rhythms but no hits resulted.
Maria Cole displays a warm voice with a cool personality. She sticks largely to the melodies and the lyrics of such numbers as “Darn That Dream,” “Remind Me,” “Fools Rush In,” “Cocktails For Two,” and “It’s Easy To Remember.” She displays some joy on the final number, a version of “I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me” from a TV broadcast with her husband in 1955, but otherwise sounds reserved and somewhat formal. That distance from listeners, plus her full time job as Mrs. Nat King Cole, are the main reasons that her solo career (even after Cole’s passing) never caught on.
However Maria Cole’s singing on The Talk Of The Town is mostly pretty classy and will please those who enjoy middle-of-the-road 1950s pop singers.
The Talk Of The Town
Maria Cole
Jasmine 2810
www.jasmine-records.co.uk
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
