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Straighten up and Fly Right : The Life and Music of Nat King Cole by Will Friedwald (2020, Hardcover)
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- Buy It NowStraighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole [Cultural Biogr
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-100190882042
ISBN-139780190882044
eBay Product ID (ePID)2309320910
Product Key Features
Book TitleStraighten Up and Fly Right : the Life and Music of Nat King Cole
Number of Pages560 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicComposers & Musicians, Genres & Styles / Jazz
Publication Year2020
IllustratorYes
GenreMusic, Biography & Autobiography
AuthorWill Friedwald
Book SeriesCultural Biographies Ser.
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.9 in
Item Weight38.9 Oz
Item Length9.5 in
Item Width6.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2019-049935
Dewey Edition23
Reviews"The first factually reliable primary-source biography of the singer-instrumentalist." -- Terry Teachout, Commentary.org "Friedwald wonderfully captures Cole and his career with smooth and captivating prose in this definitive biography." -- Publishers Weekly "Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with his trio a template for R&B; renewing he American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement. Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke all owe him an incalculable debt. Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the best book that anyone will write about Nat King Cole." -- Adam Gopnik, "Friedwald wonderfully captures Cole and his career with smooth and captivating prose in this definitive biography." -- Publishers Weekly "Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with his trio a template for R&B; renewing he American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement. Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke all owe him an incalculable debt. Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the best book that anyone will write about Nat King Cole." -- Adam Gopnik, "The first factually reliable primary-source biography of the singer-instrumentalist." -- Terry Teachout, Commentary.org"Friedwald wonderfully captures Cole and his career with smooth and captivating prose in this definitive biography." -- Publishers Weekly "Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with his trio a template for R&B; renewing he American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement. Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke all owe him an incalculable debt. Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the best book that anyone will write about Nat King Cole." -- Adam Gopnik, "The first factually reliable primary-source biography of the singer-instrumentalist." -- Terry Teachout, Commentary.org"Friedwald wonderfully captures Cole and his career with smooth and captivating prose in this definitive biography." -- Publishers Weekly"Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with his trio a template for R&B; renewing he American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement. Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cookeall owe him an incalculable debt. Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the bestbook that anyone will write about Nat King Cole." -- Adam Gopnik, Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with histrio a template for R&B; renewingthe American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement.Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke all owe himan incalculable debt.Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the best book that anyone will write about Nat King Cole., "Nat Cole is still such an ineffably engaging singer that it is easy to forget just how protean and important a musician he was -- originating new styles of be-bop-to-modern jazz piano; creating with his trio a template for R&B; renewing he American song book in its eclipse; becoming one of the first true cross-over artists, and not least, ending as a quiet hero of the civil rights movement. Artists as different as Bill Evans, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke all owe him an incalculable debt. Will Friedwald's biography captures each of these faces of Cole, and does so with a delightful mix of scholarly dedication and interpretive verve. This is certainly the best book that anyone will write about Nat King Cole." -- Adam Gopnik
Dewey Decimal782.42164092
Table Of ContentForward by John PizzarelliIntro: "Of Falling Blossoms and Paper Moons"Prelude: Paris, 1930Origin Story (1919-1937)Act One: The King Cole Trio1. The Birth of the Trio (1937-1943)2. Rise of the Trio (1943-1946)3. Interlude: Nat and Norman: The "Jam Sessions" (1942-1946) 4. Expanding the Canvas (1946-1947) 5. Entr'acte: Trio to Quartet to Solo (1948-1951)Act Two: Nat King Cole6. Nat and Nelson: "Mona Lisa" to Two in Love (1950-1954)7. Assault on a King (1955-1956)8. Years of Stardust (1956-1959)9. "The Ends of the Earth" (1960-1962)10. Requiem for a King (1962-1964)Postscript: The Afterlife (1965 and Beyond)
SynopsisIn this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on Nat King Cole, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star., One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio going was just as much of a focus for him as his own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors like Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act, his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the man in the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs. trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythm numbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious" songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm and blues, country and western. Cole was different from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down., One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio goingwas just as much of a focus for him as his own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors likeNelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act, his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the man in the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs.trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythm numbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious"songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm & blues, country & western. Cole was different from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down., One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio going was just as much of a focus for him as his own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors like Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act, his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the man in the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs. trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythm numbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious" songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm & blues, country & western. Cole was different from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down.
LC Classification NumberML420.C63F75 2020
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