A Short Tribute to Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole
Non dimenticar
Means don’t forget you are
My Darlin’
[YouTube video
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyiT0MCLxuw]
It was on New Year’s Day 2016 that many of us learnt
of Natalie Cole’s tragic passing. One of the best press tributes to her was
Gene Seymour’s on CNN.com which can be found here: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/01/opinions/seymour-natalie-cole/index.html.
For me, Nat and Natalie Cole (it is impossible to
appraise one without the other in the EZ listening genre!) defined romance in
expressive, personal singing against lavish orchestral settings. Words set
against a fantasy backdrop of a waterfall of string serenades. Nat’s sound was
velvety yet nasal. Natalie’s shifted in the direction of sonic silk.
Occasionally, the string orchestra was substituted with a large big band. But
both created a mood of soft comforting tones that drew the listener back to
calmer postures. At the same time, one is transported back to candlelight
moments and the pleasure of the company of one’s spouse, family and close
friends. Life was all about the moments of endearment, the enchantment of
‘sweet nothings’ and the basic refuge of a close fellowship.
The music of father and daughter represented that
particular stream of Easy Listening one could dub ‘soft lights and sweet
music’.
In keeping with the theme of this blog, I choose to
highlight two splendid orchestral albums that span roughly 1958 to 1992. First
up is John Williams conducting the BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA in 1992’s
UNFORGETTABLE released on SONY Classical using the 20-Bit Super Bit Mapping
technology that Sony was touting for its premier releases. Under Williams,
‘Unforgettable’ becomes a perfect love song and anthem for nostalgia rolled
into one given the original arrangements by Nat King Cole. Natalie and David
Foster kept most of it in the 1991 album UNFORGETTABLE…WITH LOVE but added a
laid back heart-tugging (rather than soul searing) saxophone solo in the middle
to match the dueting voices. John Williams, using Angela Morley’s arrangements,
is unabashedly paying tribute to the 1991 version with the massed string
arrangements to substitute for Nat and Natalie’s voices. In between, Bob
Winter’s piano solos inject a light touch of jazz with some evident improvised
notes and substituting for the sung sections that read ‘that’s why Darling,
it’s incredible that someone so unforgettable thinks that I am unforgettable
too…’. The piano playing climbs down like a gentle stylish anti-climax to the
strings and trombones headlining the main notes of the original song. John
Williams lets this lead tune usher in the sentimental ‘My Funny Valentine’,
‘Lover’ and ‘The Way We Were’ – all played with lush strings and brass – the
way the Coles might have done them if performing with the Boston Pops.
The final tribute is simply a collection culled from
DECCA Phase 4’s immense catalogue of orchestras playing melodies from the age
of crooners and swinging songbirds. Curated by John Tracy and Jackie Stansfield
with remastering by Anthony Hawkins, this is a simply delectable feast of
analogue sounds upgraded for the digital age. Ronnie Aldrich’s twin pianos uncannily
recall Nat King Cole’s piano playing on the lead title ‘The Christmas Song’ and
carries this ivory charm of diffuse piano tones into ‘Don’t Blame Me’,
‘Tenderly’ and ‘Come Closer to Me’. There is something about the Aldrich piano
style that evokes the tenderness implicit in Nat’s nasal velvety voice.
Mantovani’s cascading strings evoke in their turn Natalie Cole’s svelte voice
on ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘Love Letters’ and ‘Stardust’. Billy Ternent and his Orchestra
– a rare remaster – takes ‘Unforgettable’ into a quiet mode in arrangements
that evoke moonlight on the garden porch with the use of xylophone and a laid
back brass track to ‘sing’ the chorus. Plenty of other surprises to round up
the
Coles’ ‘soft lights sweet music’ mood with Frank Chacksfield’s imaginative
version of ‘Red Sails in the Sunset’ complete with boat bells and ukulele in the right places, Ted Heath’s swinging
version of ‘People’ which pays tribute to the Coles gentle swinging sides.
Finally, Mantovani’s interpretation of
‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ reminds you that the Coles found very rich
inspiration from the musical catalogues of the great musical pens of Lerner
and Loewe, and made these songs their own signatures!
ALAN
8 January 2016
ALAN
8 January 2016
