Nat King Cole at the Sands [Reissue] [Remaster]

Performer: Nat King Cole
Producer: Dave Cavanaugh; Lee Gillette; Michael Cuscuna (Reissue)
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Nat "King" Cole (vocals, piano); Nelson Riddle, Pete Rugolo, Dave Cavanaugh (arranger); John Collins (guitar); CHarlie Harris (bass); Lee Young (drums). Recorded live at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada on January 14, 1960. Includes liner notes by Dick LaPalm. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Nat King Cole (vocals, piano); John Collins (guitar); Lee Young (drums). Audio Remixer: Ron McMaster. Liner Note Author: Dick Lapalm. Recording information: Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA (01/14/1960/09/02/1959); Sands, Las Vegas, NV (01/14/1960/09/02/1959). Arrangers: Dave Cavanaugh ; Nelson Riddle; Pete Rugolo. This rare example of a Nat "King" Cole live recording captures one of the 20th century's greatest singers in fine voice in 1960 at the Sands, the Las Vegas headquarters of the Rat Pack. The band swings expertly through its sophisticated charts courtesy of legendary arrangers like Nelson Riddle and Dave Cavanaugh, and Cole demonstrates his command of a wide range of styles, from ballads like "I Wish You Love" and "Funny (Not Much)," to show tunes like "Thou Swell" and "Surrey With the Fringe on Top." A few bonus tracks are also featured, including a late-'50s studio recording of Duke Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone," and Cole's sniffy take on the then-still new rock & roll craze, "Mr. Cole Won't Rock & Roll." A year after Nat King Cole's death, Capitol Records released this "live" album, recorded at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1960. There is a historical interest, in that this is the only Cole concert recording, and it's an enjoyable performance, with more up-tempo numbers than ballads and a piano solo on "Where or When" that demonstrates Cole had not lost his jazz chops. But Cole on-stage is not a revelatory experience, at least on this night, and like most Vegas performances, this one is a little overdone. (An arrangement of Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" is especially unfortunate.) [Originally released in 1960, Nat King Cole at the Sands was reissued on CD in 2002.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Q (1/03, p.130) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...The only known live recording of Nat King Cole, from the Rat Pack's hang out of choice in 1960..."

One of the seminal performers in 20th-century American music, Nat "King" Cole was a major figure in the development of jazz piano, the stylistic link between early jazz and pop of the sophisticated urban variety that emerged in the '30s, and finally one of the greatest pop singers of his day. Cole was a hugely talented, intensely musical singer, blessed with almost flawless good taste, who became an international superstar capable of appealing to audiences across all boundaries.

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