Nat "King" Cole - All-Purpose Thread (was "year by year") - Part 5*

Last night Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC radio played "The Continental" and "Ballerina" from the May 29, 1958 London concert conducted by Nelson Riddle...the same day Sinatra attempted "Lush Life" in Hollywood with Felix Slatkin conducting.

 

He's got his date and/or location wrong, Ron. Cole and Riddle were playing Seattle on May 29, 1958, and I don't believe he was performing "The Continental" until 1959.

Perhaps it was a London concert from 1960, but then Riddle wouldn't have been there.

 

Is this the same label that put out Sinatra In Paris 1962 ?

 

Looks that way.

 

I happen to like the original Cole Porter's I Am In Love with Nelson Riddle from 1953. Here is an issue that I didn't know about.

Mfd. by The DECCA Record Co, Ltd in England, before EMI entered the picture.

I think there is a clarity there after the tape was run thru Decca's system and pressed to a 45. I will have to set up a comparative listen to know for sure.

 

Was that followed by a Canadian tour, Jordan?

 

All part of the same tour. They opened in Portland on the 28th, followed by Seattle the next night (see below). Before wrapping up on 5 June, there would also be concerts in Spokane, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Calgary and Winnipeg.

 

Thanks. Chuck Granata, in Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording, quotes Riddle mentioning this (p. 141):

 

I received the rare Unreleased LP album by Nat King Cole today. The sound is sweet - by that I mean marvelous. The tone of the voice, piano, strings and things is right. This LP looked pristine. I haven't even cleaned it yet. Hardly any groove noise.

Nat King Cole
Unreleased
Capitol ST-50.022
Hecho en Venezuela
1982


I will try to get the cover scanned and the Notes translated soon.

 

Venezuelan Capitol label in 1982: "UNRELEASED"

 

I noticed that the label has the wrong composers for Nat's How Little We Know. According to the Alan Dell LP , the composers were Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. It is a beautiful song with a superb Nelson Riddle arrangement. It probably got pushed aside by the Capitol honchos for Frank's release of a different song with the same title. Same year, I think.

 

They also goofed on "You'll Never Know" and perhaps others (I'm not checking at the moment).

I see the ST prefix -- can you confirm that all titles are in stereo?

 

Some definitely are stereo. Others I will have to check.

 

Here is a the google translation of the notes. Although my Spanish is rudimentary, I did change a couple of phrases that were over the top when google got done with it.

The musical discovery of the time has been possible thanks to the investigative nature of a producer of Electrola GmbH, in Germany, who browsing in the vaults of the Capitol subsidiary in the Netherlands, discovered a series of recordings of Nat King Cole never given to sale.

These fourteen performances never before heard by the public, are the first to be produced in the Americas.

Venezuela was the country that served as a springboard for Nat and presentations in different Spanish speaking countries . Renny Ottolina was his Master of Ceremonies in Caracas ; Radio Caracas Television publishes its platform, and now Sonografica offers this first album of " Unreleased " ( Inedito " ) series of this popular and beloved artist .


It has been 17 years since the world lost Nat King Cole, yet the songs , now almost more than then, are still heard, danced, felt and more than anything, always remembered.

Almost two generations have gone by and Nat King Cole remains King , in his style ... soft , romantic , personal.

So why were these songs not included in their albums of the moment? We will never know . The truth is that it is the same Nat King Cole as ever, with new songs that captivate the same way as the others. We hope you enjoy listening again to Nat , particularly in his "You're So Kind " , sung in Spanish , with its very characteristic and funny accent, and achieve evoke the era of "Lisbon Antigua " , "Blue Moon" , together with the other songs being played for the first time .

***************************************************************************************************************************************


El hallazgo musical de la epoca ha sido posible gracias al caracter investigativo de un productor de la Electrola, GmbH, en Alemania, quien curioseando en las bovedas de la filial de Capitol en Holanda, descubrio una serie de grabaciones de Nat King Cole nunca dadas a la venta.

Estas catorce interpretaciones nunca antes escuchados por el publico, son las primeras que se producen en el continente americano.

Venezuela fue el pais que sirvio de trampolin para Nat y sus presentaciones en los distintos paises de habla hispana. Renny Ottolina fue su Maestro de Ceremonias en Caracas; Radio Caracas Television su plataforma publica, y ahora Sonografica ofrece este primer album de la serie "Unreleased" (Inedito") de este popular y tan querido artista.

Han pasado casa 17 anos desde que el mundo perdio a Nat King Cole, sin embargo sus canciones, hoy casi mas que entonces, siguen siendo escuchadas, bailadas, sentidas y mas que nada, siempre recordadas.

Han pasado casi dos generaciones de publico y sigue siendo Nat King Cole el Rey, en su estilo... suave, romantico, personal.

Entonces, por que no se incluyeron estas canciones en sus discos del momento? Nunca se sabra. Lo cierto es que es el mismo Nat King Cole de siempre, con canciones nuevas que cautivaran de la misma manera que las otras. Esperamos que usted disfrute al escuchar nuevamente a Nat, particularmente en su "Eres Tan Amable", cantada en espanol, con su muy caracteristico y simpatico acento, y logre evocar la epoca de "Lisbon Antigua", "Blue Moon", junto con las demas canciones que esta escuchando por primera vez.
*******************************************************************
​

I wonder what was meant by the phrase "Radio Caracas Television publishes its platform"? I wonder if Caracas Television had filmed Nat at their studio? Just dreaming.

​

 

This coming Saturday, Valentine's Day will be the 50th Anniversary of Nat's death from lung cancer...what will you be doing to commemorate this tragic occasion??? I plan to play my favorite albums from Steve's SACD remasterings of his Capitol catalog that night, beginning with "Love Is The Thing"...

 

This sounds a lot like this line from Cole's Wikipedia bio:

Of course, "Tu Eres Tan Amable" had been released many years earlier as a single.

The anniversary of his death is actually Sunday, the 15th.

 

regarding this new release Nat Cole/Quincy Jones live in Paris:

It appears it's only available as a download, will it be released on a physical cd.

 

My scan of the cover of the rare Venezuelan LP, 1982, UNRELEASED, Nat King Cole.



When Jordan spotted this for sale last week, was it the first time the actual LP had been pictured in the 'Internet age'?

 

Except for Tu Eres Tan Amable, which Capitol released in 1965 on a 45 rpm record, are the rest of the song titles in the Venezuelan 1982 LP the first time they had been released anywhere??

 

Hadn't noticed that. No idea about releases in any other format.

To my knowledge, this is the first release for every other song. I've never seen another copy of the album, but I did see that there is a copy in the Venezuelan National Library.

 

Thanks

 

It's a wonder I got the Venezuelan LP. Even though it was sent by FedEx International, the LP was rattling around in a 3" deep box without any packing. Well except for the tissue paper wrapped around the LP.

The sender had to include pages of paperwork that included photocopies of his Photo ID, plus right and left fingerprints.

It must be h*ll living in Venezuela today. Recently I read that the authorities have taken over all of the grocery stores. They are turning themselves into another paradise like North Korea.