Velvet Voice of Nat King Cole: Unforgettable

"Recordings transcribed from radio broadcasts," reads a legend in small print on the back cover of the budget-priced compilation The Velvet Voice of Nate King Cole: Unforgettable, which is all the information that is provided about the source of the recordings. A little detective work, however, suggests that they may be television, not radio, transcriptions. Cole, usually backed by an orchestra and sometimes by a chorus, performs before what is clearly a substantial studio audience, introducing the numbers in a casual way. Another voice introduces him at the start, before he sings his 1955 hit "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," and that voice sounds like Tommy Dorsey, which suggests that the recording may derive from the Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show TV program of the mid-'50s. Cole himself introduces "The End of a Beautiful Friendship" by saying that it was recorded several months ago by Ella Fitzgerald. Since Fitzgerald recorded the song on March 27, 1956, the Cole performance, like many of the others here, is probably from the TV series The Nat King Cole Show of 1956-1957. The sound quality is inferior to Cole's Capitol recordings, of course, but fans may enjoy hearing him perform some of his hits ("Mona Lisa," "Unforgettable"), along with standards like "Autumn Leaves" and "I'm in the Mood for Love." ~ William Ruhlmann