Universal Music will celebrate the work of one of the most accomplished singers in popular song with the release of the definitive Nat King Cole collection on October 9, 2015.
Entitled Nat King Cole: His Musical Autobiography, it is a glorious career retrospective containing 262 tracks from 1939 – 1965 over 10 CDs including all of his signature songs, a disc of rare and unreleased recordings and a disc featuring his legendary Live At The Philharmonic appearances from 1944, a landmark in the history of jazz.
Housed in a deluxe clamshell box, the set will also feature two DVDs, the first featuring the unreleased 1963 Australian TV Special The Mobil Limb Show and the second featuring the acclaimed 2014 documentary Nat King Cole: Afraid Of The Dark as well as an 88 page book by respected author and musicologist Richard Havers, which is illustrated with rare and unseen photos of Nat at work and play and includes his original tour scrapbook.
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama in the Deep South of the US on March 17, 1919 in a society riven with racial prejudice and went on to become the first black TV star in America.
As a child he sang in church where his father was a preacher and from a very early age he picked out tunes on the piano encouraged by his mother who played the church organ. He made his recording debut in his brother Eddie’s band in 1936 and his improvisational skills can be heard in his earliest recordings with the King Cole’s Swingsters in ’39 but his reputation started to grow exponentially when he stepped up to the mike and unleashed that velvet baritone on an unsuspecting world.
Cole went on to work with some of the great songwriters and arrangers of the 40s and 50s including Billy May, Gordon Jenkins and Nelson Riddle, and his flawless warm phrasing ensured that he had more than 100 hit records and charted more than two dozen albums in his era-defining career. Though his voice made him one of the most recognizable singers in history alongside Sinatra, Crosby and Dean Martin, Cole was modest about his gift, saying “I’m a musician at heart. I know I’m not really a singer. I couldn’t compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.”
Cole died tragically too soon of lung cancer in 1965 but left behind a catalogue of music that stands shoulder to shoulder with any other singer of that era and continues to delight new generations of listeners to this day. Nat King Cole was awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1990 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000.
Beautifully produced and expertly researched Nat King Cole: His Musical Autobiography runs the gamut of Cole’s unique talent from his pure jazz piano stylings to his sublimely romantic ballads and is a joy for anyone whose interest in Cole stretches beyond the pop hits that made him famous.
The full tracklisting of the box is as follows:
Disc 1: 1939-1943 – I Like to Riff
There’s No Anesthetic For Love
Riffin’ At The Bar-B-Q
Harlem Swing
Dancing In The Street
I Like To Riff
By The River Sainte Marie
Sweet Lorraine
This Side Up
Honeysuckle Rose
Gone With The Draft
Early Morning Blues
Scotchin’ With Soda
Hit The Ramp
Stop! The Red Lights On
Call The Police
Are You Fer It
That Ain’t Right
Hit That Jive Jack
All For You
Vim, Vom Veedle
Pitchin’ Up a Boogie
Let’s Spring One
F.S.T. (Fine Sweet And Tasty)
Got A Penny
Let’s Pretend
Disc 2: 1943-1946 – Straighten Up and Fly Right
Straighten Up And Fly Right
I Just Can’t See For Lookin’
Jumpin’ At Capitol
If You Can’t Smile And Say Yes
Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
Sweet Lorraine
Embraceable You
It’s Only A Paper Moon
The Man I Love
Body & Soul
Prelude in C Sharp Minor
What Is This Thing Called Love
Easy Listening Blues
I Realize Now
Bring Another Drink
I’m A Shy Guy
You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You
Sweet Georgia Brown
It is Better to be By Yourself
The Frim Fram Sauce
Come To Baby Do!
Homeward Bound
This Way Out
But She’s My Buddy’s Chick
How Does it Feel
Disc 3: 1946-1949 – Get Your Kicks on Route 66
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66
Everyone Is Sayin’ Hello Again (Why Must We Say Goodbye?)
I’m In The Mood For Love
I’ve Only Myself To Blame
To A Wild Rose
You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
The Best Man
I Love You For Sentimental Reasons
In The Cool of the Evening
You’re the Cream In My Coffee
Come In Out of The Rain
Meet Me At No Special Place
Save The Bones For Henry Jones
Nature Boy
It’s The Sentimental Thing To Do
The Geek
Little Girl
Lost April
Put ‘Em In A Box, Tie ‘Em With A Ribbon
Lush Life
Land Of Love
Yes Sir That’s My Baby
Calypso Blues
My Baby Just Cares For Me
Disc 4: 1950-1951 – Unforgettable
For You My Love
I Almost Lost My Mind
Baby Won’t You Say You Love Me
Mona Lisa
The Greatest Inventor Of Them All
Home (When Shadows Fall)
The Tunnel Of Love
Orange Colored Sky
Jam-Bo
Frosty The Snowman
Jet
The Magic Tree
Always You
Destination Moon
Too Young
That’s My Girl
Red Sails In The Sunset
Because Of Rain
Song Of Delilah
Unforgettable
My First And My Last Love
Miss Me
Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
The Ruby & The Pearl
Disc 5: 1952-54 – Somewhere Along the Way
Somewhere Along the Way
Funny (Not Much)
Penthouse Serenade
Laura
I’m Never Satisfied
Faith Can Move Mountains
Strange
Pretend
Can’t I
That’s All
I Am In Love
Return To Paradise
A Fool Was I
Tenderly
Let’s Fall In Love
Lover, Come Back To Me!
Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
Answer Me, My Love
It Happens To Be Me
Make Her Mine
Smile
Hajji Baba (Persian Lament)
My One Sin (In Life)
The Sand & The Sea
A Blossom Fell
If I May
Forgive My Heart
Disc 6: 1955-57 – Stardust
I Want To Be Happy
Someone You Love
Take Me Back To Toyland
Dreams Can Tell A Lie
I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life
Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You
Ask Me
Too Young To Go Steady
Never Let Me Go
10.That’s All There Is To That
My Dream Sonata
Night Lights
To The Ends Of The Earth
Sweet Lorraine
Ballerina
Blame It On My Youth
You Are My First Love
When Rock and Roll Comes To Trinidad
Love Letters
Stardust
Send For Me
When I Fall In Love
My Personal Possession
With You On My Minde
The Song Of Raintree County
The Party’s Over
Angel Smile
Disc 7: 1958-60 – You Made Me Love You
St. Louis Blues
Looking Back
Do I Like It
Come Closer To Me
Come To The Mardi Gras
This is All I Ask
The Very Thought Of You
Mood Indigo
Nothin’ In The World
Non Dimenticar (Don’t Forget)
Crazy She Calls Me
Give Me Your Love
Madrid
You Made Me Love You
I Must Be Dreaming
Sweet Bird Of Youth
In A Mellow Tone (instrumental)
Midnight Flyer
Time And The River
Whatcha Gonna Do
That’s You
Hundreds and Thousands of Girls
My Love
Wild is Love
If I Knew
Poinciana
When It’s Summer
Illusion
Disc 8: 1961-65 – Ramblin’ Rose
Take a Fool’s Advice
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street
Let True Love Begin
Cappuccina
Step Right Up (And Say You Love Me)
Everything Happens To Me
The Right Thing To Say
September Song
Ramblin’ Rose
Your Cheatin’ Heart
Dear Lonely Hearts
I Could Have Danced All Night
All Over The World
Nothing Goes Up (Without Coming Down)
Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days Of Summer
My True Carrie Love
That Sunday, That Summer
Mr Wishing Well
I Don’t Want To Be Hurt Anymore
People
More And More Of Your Amor
Kareha (Japanese version of Autumn Leaves)
I Don’t Want To See Tomorrow
L-O-V-E
Let Me Tell You Babe
The Ballad of Cat Ballou
The Girl From Ipanema
Three Little Words
No Other Heart
Disc 9: Jazz at the Philharmonic
Lester Leaps In
Tea For Two
Blues
Body And Soul
Sweet Lorraine
The Man I Love
I’ve Found A New Baby
Rosetta
Bugle Call Rag
One O’Clock Jump
Oh, Lady Be Good!
Disc 10: Rare & Unreleased
Just You, Just Me (takes 1-6)
Little Child
The Day Isn’t Long Enough
Sweet William (And The Lily Of The Valley)
The Sleeping Beauty
The Magic Window
Why Can’t We Try Again
You’re Wrong, All Wrong
Little Fingers
United (takes 1-3)
Unfair (take 8)
One Sun
Coo Coo Roo Coo Coo Paloma
Thank You Pretty Baby (takes 1-13)
DVD 1: Mobil Limb Show Television Special
The Way You Look Tonight
When I Fall In Love
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Right Myself a Letter
Imagination
Mona Lisa
It’s Only a Paper Moon
Too Young
Where or When
To The Ends of the Earth
Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
To The Ends of the Earth
Non Dimenticar
To The Ends of the Earth
Acércate Más
To The Ends of the Earth
Dear Lonely Hearts
I Love A Piano
Walking My Baby Back Home
Ramblin’ Rose
A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening
DVD 2: Nat King Cole: Afraid of the Dark (2014 Documentary)
