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Straighten up and fly right : the life and music of Nat King Cole Cover Image Book

Straighten up and fly right : the life and music of Nat King Cole

Friedwald, Will 1961- (author.).

Summary: "One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio going was just as much of a focus for him ashis own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors like Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act,his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the manin the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs. trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythmnumbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious" songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm & blues, country & western. Cole wasdifferent from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down"--

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780190882044
  • ISBN: 0190882042
  • Physical Description: print
    xv, 633 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm.
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Introduction : O falling blossoms and paper moons. Prelude : Paris, 1930 ; Origin story (1919-1937) -- Act one. The King Cole Trio. The birth of the Trio : 1937-1943 ; The rise of the Trio : 1943-1946 ; Interlude : Nat and Norman : The "Jam sessions", 1942-1946 ; Expanding the canvas : 1946-1947 ; Entr'acte : Trio to quartet to solo, 1948-1951 -- Act two. Nat King Cole. Nat and Nelson : "Mona Lisa" to Two in love, 1950-1954 ; Assault on a King : 1955-1956 ; Years of Stardust, Night lights, and Fear of the dark : 1957-1959 ; The ends of the Earth : 1960-1961 ; Requiem for a King : 1962-1964 ; Postscript : The afterlife : 1965 and beyond.

Search for related items by subject

Subject:
Cole, Nat King 1919-1965
Singers United States Biography
African American singers Biography
African American musicians Biography
Pianists United States Biography
Jazz musicians United States Biography
Genre:
Biographies.

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Available copies

  • 6 of 6 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Onslow County Public Library.

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  • 0 current holds with 6 total copies.
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Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Jacksonville Main Library BIO COLE (Text) 36015000505954 Adult Biography Available -
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