NAT 'KING' COLE - ST. LOUIS BLUES - CAPITOL ZD-59 - 7 1/2 IPS REEL TO REEL TAPE

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7-1/2 IPS 2-TRACK REEL TAPE
CAPITOL ZD-59:
NAT 'KING' COLE - ST. LOUIS BLUES
This tape album is a recording of Nat King Cole singing all the great W.C. Handy songs featured in the 1958
motion
picture
St. Louis Blues.
Cole, who starred as seminal jazz and blues musician W.C. Handy, was, needless to say, a great jazz and pop pianist and singer (second as a piano man only to Charles Brown, in my humble opinion).
Backed by Nelson Riddle’s orchestra,
Nat King Coles’ renditions of Handy’s classics are excellent, of course.
The sound quality of this Capitol 2-track tape is also excellent. The stereo, as usual for the late 50s, is not exactly proper; Cole’s voice should be centered but it emanates from the right channel only, with the orchestra coming mostly from the left. I am a dedicated ‘stereophile’ but the hard-left/hard-right presentation does not bother me at all… because the music is so smooth, so good.
Interestingly, on the final track, "St. Louis Blues”, Cole’s voice moves from the right channel to the “phantom” center channel and it gets louder. I got the aural impression that he was standing to one side of the microphone and moved closer to it as he sang, ending up singing directly into the mic.
This tape album plays from start to finish with no issues of any sort.
The tape itself looks fresh, flat shiny and supple, packed evenly on the original Capitol reel.
A new, long, white/red leader was spliced onto the start end of this tape.
Please see the photos to check the condition of the box and reel.
St. Louis Blues
is a 1958 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle.
St. Louis Blues
was the soundtrack to the film of the same name
that starred Cole. The Billboard album chart placed the disc at a peak position of #18.
Overture (Introducing Love Theme) / "Hesitating Blues" – 3:08
"Harlem Blues" – 1:51
"Chantez Les Bas" – 2:35
"Friendless Blues" (Mercedes Gilbert) – 3:15
"Stay" (Andy Razaf) – 2:37
"Joe Turner's Blues" (Walter Hirsch) – 2:40
“Beale Street Blues" – 2:56
“Careless Love" (Martha E. Koenig, Spencer Williams) – 2:44
"Morning Star" (Mack David, W.C. Handy) – 2:12
“Memphis Blues" (George A. Norton) – 3:06
“Yellow Dog Blues" – 3:16
“St. Louis Blues" – 2:27
All music and lyrics by W.C. Handy, other lyricists indicated. Overture written by Nelson Riddle.
Nat King Cole — vocals
Nelson Riddle – arranger, conductor
St. Louis Blues
is a 1958 American film broadly based on the life of W.C. Handy. It stars jazz and blues greats Nat “King” Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, and Barney Bigard, as well as gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and actress Ruby De. The film's soundtrack used twelve of Handy's compositions including the title song.
In conjunction with the film, Cole recorded an album of W.C. Handy compositions, arranged by Nelson Riddle, and Fitzgerald incorporated "St. Louis Blues" into her concert repertoire.
Nat King Cole as W.C. Handy
Eartha Kitt as Gogo Germaine
Cab Calloway as Blade
Ella Fitzgerald as herself
Mahalia Jackson as Bessie May
Ruby Dee as Elizabeth
Juano Hernandez as Rev. Charles Handy
Teddy Buckner as Musician
Barney Bigard as Musician
George Callender as Musician
Lee Young as Musician
George Washington as Musician
Billy Preston as Will Handy as a boy
Pearl Bailey as Aunt Hagar
Jester Hairston as Choir Master/Singer
Nathaniel Adams Coles
(March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as
Nat King Cole
, was an American singer and jazz pianist. He recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first African-American man to host an American television series. He was the father of singer-songwriter Natalie Cole (1950–2015).
His hit singles include "Straighten Up and Fly Right", "The Christmas Song", "Nature Boy", "Mona Lisa, "Frosty, The Snowman", "Too Young", "Unforgettable", "Somewhere Along the Way", "Answer Me, My Love", "A Blossom Fell", "If I May", “ Send for Me", “ Looking Back", "Ramblin' Rose", "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer”, and “Unforgettable" (1991with daughter Natalie).