Research Catalog

Title

Straighten up and fly right : the life and music of Nat King Cole / Will Friedwald.

Author

Friedwald, Will, 1961-

Publication

• New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xv, 633 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations; 25 cm.

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 as his 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 man in 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 rhythm numbers 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 was different 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"--

Series Statement

Oxford cultural biographies

Uniform Title

Oxford cultural biographies.

Subjects

• Jazz musicians
• Pianists
• Singers
• Biographies
• United States
• Cole, Nat King, 1919-1965
• Jazz musicians > United States > Biography
• Pianists > United States > Biography
• African American musicians > Biography
• African American singers > Biography
• Singers > United States > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

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.

Call Number

Sc E 21-661

ISBN

• 9780190882044
• 0190882042

LCCN

2019049935

OCLC

1126349571

Author

Friedwald, Will, 1961- author.

Title

Straighten up and fly right : the life and music of Nat King Cole / Will Friedwald.

Publisher

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Copyright Date

©2020

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Oxford cultural biographies

Oxford cultural biographies.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Note

Schomburg copy with dust jacket.

Other Form:

Online version: Friedwald, Will, 1961- Straighten up and fly right New York City : Oxford University Press, 2020. 9780190882051 (DLC) 2019049936

Research Call Number

Sc E 21-661