… The Double Life of Nat King Cole. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Cole’s piano style would have made an impression under any circumstances, but it was the setting that he now created for himself—a drummerless trio consisting of piano, electric guitar, and bass—that showed it off most advantageously. Full-time combos of any sort were uncommon in the swing era, and the King Cole Trio would have stood out for that reason alone. In addition, the absence of a drummer gave the trio a transparent sound that made it easier for Cole and Oscar Moore, an unsung pioneer of jazz guitar, to toss musical ideas back and forth, supported only by the swinging bass lines of Wesley Prince and, later, Johnny Miller. The nimble, darting interplay heard on records such as This Side Up (1940) and What Is This Thing Called Love? (1944) has lost none of its freshness eight decades later.
I'm so old I can remember loving the King Cole Trio when I was a very little kid in the '40s.
No comments:
Post a Comment