A Short Tribute to Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole - EZ Listening Style

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