Before
his international acclaim as a pop vocalist, Nathaniel Adams Coles
built an indelible reputation as a jazz pianist in the groundbreaking
combo, The King Cole Trio. Born into a musical family, young Nat
Coles (later changed to Cole) recorded with his older brother, Edward,
in 1936 for the Decca label. The four sides cut by Eddie Cole's Solid
Swingers gave the general public its first glimpse of Nat's gentle yet
lively piano riffs. After touring with a revival show of Eubie Blake's
revue Shuffle Along, Cole settled in Los Angeles, playing various
nightclubs as a soloist. In 1937, club owner Bob Lewis suggested that
Cole assemble a small band to work at his Swanee Inn on North La Brea.
The group's unorthodox instrumentation and size - they had no drummer
and, at the time, big bands were the rage - featured Wesley Prince
on bass and the innovative phrasings of electric guitarist Oscar Moore.
The Trio's blend of jump blues and jazzy instrumentals with bouncy vocal
stylings was a collective effort, while Cole occasionally took the lead
on standard ballads. After an uneventful 1939 session for the Davis &
Schwegler recording company in Hollywood, The Trio accompanied Lionel
Hampton on two recording dates the following summer. Their association
with Hampton helped, and that winter The Trio signed with Decca. Their
1940-41 sessions for the label yielded sixteen songs and captured the
attention of fellow musicians, fans and a handful of critics. Later that
fall, The Trio sounded right at home with drummer Lee Young on a four-song
session for the Ammor label. In 1942, Cole recorded with Red Callender
and saxophonist Lester Young for the Philo/Aladdin label, 
producing
a handful of recordings that became benchmarks in their individual careers.
Signing with Capitol Records in 1943, The Trio consisted of Cole, Moore,
and Johnny Miller, who had settled in as the permanent bassist. Moore
left the fold in 1947 and Irving Ashby replaced him. Capitol Records featured
The Trio less and less after that, while Cole was singled out as a vocalist
often backed by lush string orchestras. By the 1950's, Cole's reputation
as a singer had reached a wide pop audience and, upon his death in 1965,
his place in music history was forever cemented. His fellow jazz peers,
however, never forgot his equally unique touch on the piano and the influence
his early trio work had on later performers such as Oscar Peterson, Red
Garland, and Tommy Flanagan.
