Sidebar – The Nat King Cole Trio
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Nat King Cole is one of my musical heroes. His piano playing (and Oscar Moore’s incredible guitar work) in the King Cole Trio is brilliant (Check out the jam on “Sweet Georgia Brown” on this podcast). He was a reluctant vocalist who stumbled into being one of the biggest pop stars of his generation, and the first African-American to host his own TV show and have a worldwide audience. A very gracious man as well. Whenever I need a lift in life, putting on a King Cole Trio record nearly always does the trick. Check out the tunes on the audio file below. Had he lived, he would’ve turned 90 years old on March 17.
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Listen:
Download the file by clicking here
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Set List:
Jumpin At Capitol
Straighten Up & Fly Right
Gee Baby Aint I Good To You
Body and Soul
Sweet Lorraine
When I Take My Sugar To Tea
Sweet Georgia Brown
The Frim Fram Sauce
Route 66
Want to watch a couple of classic videos? Here’s one from 1949 with the Trio:
And how bout Nat singing with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, and Coleman Hawkins. Awesome!
