Album Reviews

This bio produced by the Spanish Eforfilms is essential viewing for any Nat King Cole fan. There's plenty of great Nat footage, but more importantly, an intelligent script a that looks at all facets of Nat's life, including the tension between Nat the jazz pianist and Nat the pop crooner. Also key was the difficult racial environment in which Cole, among others, was forced to suffer.

There are complete musical performances, including Cole with Ella and a hilarious duet with Sammy Davis, Jr., with Sammy doing a perfect Nat impression, much to the “King”'s delight. Unfortunately I was unable to view the bonus footage, because the bar code on the jacket was placed over where the disc sits and when the distribution company punched the promo hole, it put a hole in the disc. Even without the bonus footage, this is worth having. Other bios in the series include Billie Holiday and Lena Horne, with a Frank Sinatra disc due soon.

Also for Nat fans: Nat "King" Cole Soundies and Telescriptions (idem Home Video IDVD1017NT), a 72 minute DVD compilation of Cole performances from various venues. Mostly black and white with lo-fi sound, it's Nat's look that will mesmerize, and the music's so good, the bad sound will not interfere