Nat King Cole

by Daniel Mark Epstein

Book Overview

Daniel Mark Epstein brings Nat King Cole (1917-1965) and his times to vivid life: his precocious entrance onto the vibrant jazz scene of his hometown, Chicago; the creation and success of his Trio;... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374219125
• ISBN13: 9780374219123
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 437 Pages
• Weight: 1.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

UNFORGETTABLE!

This biography lets us view this gentleman and his music from his early days on the Chicago jazz circuit to mega star status as a pop singer, film and television artist. Daniel Mark Epstein, the author has been thorough in his research. We meet Maria and Natalie and a litany of Nat's friends, JFK, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Bobby Darin Buddy Greco and George Shearing. There is even an item about Marilyn Monroe. Nat's public image was one of poise and elegance. The author captures the hidden side of Nat's personal turmoil and anxiety. Nat died at age forty-five. So young, so talented, and very very unforgettable. I can still almost hear his trio and his smooth vocals crooning "Blue Velvet", "When Sunny Gets Blue" and of course, "Unforgettable". I liked this book. If you get a chance, listen to John Pizzarelli's version of "Straighten Up and Fly Right", a Nat King Cole favorite. It's on John's CD, "Dear Mr Cole." I liked this book and the CD

Long,Long overdue

this Man is a True African-American Pioneer.his voice is like silk.nobody has sung as smooth as him since.he was one of a kind Genius.this book talks about the highs & Lows of his Life Growing up and until his Untimely Death.his Importance to the Civil Rights Struggle & Movement.this Book comes correct.but no matter what the Good or the Bad this Man was A Class Act.this is a Essential Book for any fan of Music.

A review from Nat's Nephew.

From the moment I stumbled upon this book in the Library and read a few chapters, I was mesmorized by the detail captured in my uncles life. I think that when I started reading the book I was doing so with a curious and critical intent to see just how close the author would be to describing the realities of my grandfathers household. Moreso, the atmospher in which my father and his brothers and sister grew-up.Needless to say, this book was an awakening for me. Over the past 10 years I have been trying to gather information on Nat's begining, but talking to my dad (IKE) and my uncle (Freddy), whom both are younger than Nat, the details have been very sketchy to say the least. I am very impressed with the flow of the book, more especially with the authors ability to add glamor, excitment and reality where needed. There were a couple of places where facts were miss-stated, but overall GOOD JOB!Lawrence Coles

Important and Overdue

Cole is an important pioneer in recent American cultural history. He believed in the power of the individual regardless of current trends, racist attitudes, social barriers. It's time he got his props. Good job.

Unforgettable

This is the most insightful, deeply moving biography of an American musician I have ever read. The first sixty pages is a gripping account of how the sixteen-year-old Nat Cole, wunderkind jazz pianist, found himself triumphing in a "battle of the bands" against his idol, bandleader Earl Hines in 1935. Epstein recreates the music and atmosphere of Chicago's golden age of jazz with sparkling detail in sentences that flow like Cole's piano riffs. He follows Cole close-up through two marriages and endless career challenges as he forms the first jazz trio and rises to fame, against all odds, to become the first black to have his own radio show, his own network T.V. show. And from the first scenes to the last, where 45-year old Cole is dying of cancer, caught between his loyalty to his wife Maria and his passion for his 20-year-old Swedish mistress, the narrative pace never lets up. Cole was an American hero of epic proportions. In capturing his amazing life in words Epstein proves himself a master storyteller.