Nat King Cole had two overlapping careers. A brilliant swing pianist who had developed his own style with the King Cole Trio in the late 1930s and throughout the ’40s, he always had a very likable singing voice. Cole evolved from an ensemble singer with his trio into a superb ballad vocalist who could also interpret medium-tempo numbers with joy.
During his last 15 years, after “Mona Lisa” became a #1 hit, Nat King Cole de-emphasized his piano playing in favor of his very popular singing. For a long time, that led to his jazz credentials being overlooked with much of the public thinking of him as a singer who played a little piano. Jazz Encounters, a very interesting CD, was compiled in 1992 to try to rectify that situation. It consists of some of the more unique recordings that Cole was part of during 1945-50 for Capitol, most of which are not reissued all that often.
Cole is heard playing piano with the Metronome All-Stars in 1947, sounding fine next to such modernists as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, arranger Pete Rugolo, and (on one of the two numbers) the entire Stan Kenton Orchestra. A bit safer and more familiar for Cole are his four numbers (and two alternates) in 1945 with the Capitol International Jazzmen, a unit filled with such swing immortals as Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, clarinetist Buster Bailey, trumpeter Bill Coleman and, on “If I Could Be With You,
