Blame It On My Youth

Nat "King" Cole: You're Looking At Me
from After Midnight: The Complete Session (Capitol 1956)

Nat "King" Cole: L.O.V.E. (Japanese Version)
from L.O.V.E. Single


I know some of you spent your Friday celebrating St. Patty's day while some of you took the Friday as a day of abstaining from meat, and if you were one of those who recognized and wnated to partake in both events luck was with you. But for those who wanted to celebrate in a more jazz and pop standard procedure, look no further than the birth date of Nathaniel Adams Coles on that day in 1919.

Probably best known more for his pop hits than his ten plus years as an accomplished jazz pianist, he was ostensibly all things to everybody. For the jazz enthusiast he is remembered as being the prominent figure that brought about small band-jazz with his trio consisting of Oscar Moore and Wesley Prince on guitar and bass respectively (the lineup would change over the years). As a jazz band there singles were successful enough to reach number one on the Billboard R&B charts (referred to then as the Harlem Hit Parade) and when Billboard instituted the first album chart, the King Cole Trio spent 12 weeks ranked at number 1. But to the majority of people, he is recognized as the velvety crooner of pop standards like Mona Lisa and The Christmas Song and as he became more popular as a singer he gradually abandoned performing on the piano in concert and eventually dissolved the trio in favor of performing as a solo artist.

And so I present two songs to commemorate his birthday, one a track from an album meant to appease his jazz critics, and another a pop single that shows his worldwide appeal (with a conceit that an artist today probably couldn't get away with). You're Looking At Me is a song from the After Midnight album with accompanying alto sax by Willie Smith and is a song that wasn't in Cole's repertoire at the time of the recording. The song is perfectly accentuated by Willie Smith (every track on this album has a special guest accompaniment) as he glides in and out between the verses and Cole's warm voice nicely plays with the falsely self-effacing lyrics. Listen closely to the instrumentation in the background, particularly during the solos, and you can hear Cole tickling the ivories which unfortunately doesn't get as much highlight on this album as it deserves.

L.O.V.E. is a song familiar to all of Coles fans (casual and diehards) and is here presented in a version that you may not be familiar with. Cole recorded a lot of songs in both English and Spanish and on some occasions dabbled in other languages as well (this song was recorded in French, German, and Italian). I don't speak Japanese but this is a song I've always liked and regardless of whether or not he's mangling the pronunciation, the melody is still simple enough to transcend the language barrier.