Nat King Cole

I've owned this set for over a year and am still amazed that it continues to sell for such a low price. What I love about this is the focus on the Trio, which should be required listening for every guitarist, bassist and pianist on the planet. Oh, and let's not forget my fellow drummers.The reason for the first three is Nat was a virtuoso pianist who had the good fortune to have discovered Johnny Miller on bass and Oscar Moore on guitar. Each musician was in total command of his instrument, and together they were synergistic. Rhythmically, they rivaled the Great American Rhythm Section (Basie, Walter Page, Freddie Green and Papa Jo Jones), but they were also melodically and harmonically geniuses. Oh, there were other members of the Trio as time passed, including another of my favorites on guitar: Irving Ashby.What drew me to the trio recordings contained in this set was the absence of a drummer on most of the tracks. That may sound silly since from my tag it's obvious that I am a drummer, but that is what makes this set all the more valuable. It opened my eyes (and ears) to how music can be both rhythmic and swing without a drummer. That forced me to carefully examine each instrument - bass, guitar and piano - and how they contributed to time, pulse and rhythm. Taking the time to dissect the music like that has changed my views on the role of a drummers (and humbled me by showing that a drummer can be dispensed with with the right musicians), thus making me a [hopefully] better drummer who is aware of what the other musicians are doing.One other plus for drummers is because a great many tracks in this set are ensembles without one, this makes an ideal set of playalong tracks. I guarantee that your brush (and stick) chops will improve.I can wax as enthusiastically as the next person regarding this box set, but I will admit that there is one CD that I only listened to once and am not moved to play again: CD8, Little Girl, which is mainly nursery rhymes and children's songs. If there were kits around (all of my grandchildren are on the other coast), I would probably play it just to give them a sense of swing. I would also have an excuse to buy  Tells Fairy Tales for Hip Kids , but I digress.The only other recommendations I can make to augment this set without duplicating any of the contents are  Transcriptions  (some overlap) and  Complete After Midnight Sessions  (essential for any fan and a return to his jazz roots after he became a pop star - not a trio, but close in spirit and swing!)

This incredible bargain may have slipped my notice entirely had I not been given a heads-up by one of the Top 20 reviewers here at Amazon, Peter Harris, who knew of my fondness for Nat "King" Cole. The first question someone will ask is, how can they sell a 10-CD set containing 233 songs for that ridiculous price? Well, perhaps one answer is, there are no liner notes nor discography/sessionography.The discs come in individual sleeves (all bearing the same picture you see above) in a small cardboard box with the tracks broken down as follows: CD 1 - Harlem Swing - 1 to 24; CD 2 - Hit That Jive Jack - tracks 25 to 48; CD 3 - What Is This Thing Called Love - tracks 49 to 72; CD 4 - I'm A Shy Guy - tracks 73 to 97; CD 5 - Route 66 - tracks 98 to 120; CD 6 - For Sentimental Reasons - tracks121 to 142; CD 7 - These Foolish Tings - tracks 143 to 166; CD 8 - Little Girl - tracks 167 to 189; CD 9 - My Fair Lady - tracks 190 to 209; CD 10 - That's My Girl - tracks 210 to 233 (note that, on the sleeves, the tracks are numbered from 1 up according to the contents of each sleeve).The sound quality of this 2005 release from Membran International GmbH of Hamburg, Germany is, however, remarkably good, and that is particularly important when it comes to the earliest cuts which date back to 1936! And rest assured, ALL are original renditions, with many of Nat's biggest hits included, both on the R&B and Pop charts, covering his pre-Trio days, then with the legendary King Cole Trio, and finally as a solo artist working with some of the best bands of his era.To try and go through all 233 tracks would make this review far too long, so what I have done is show his singles discography in the Comments section, including his contributions to the V-Disc label (V for Victory), produced during World War II as the result of a special deal cooked up between Washington and the recording companies whereby U.S. military personnel overseas had access to the best the entertainment industry had to offer. Each was a 12-inch 78 rpm disc that actually were produced from 1943 to 1949.A marvelous, compact box-set that contains many of the singles listed in the comments and which you cannot pass up if you are a fan of this legendary artist.

I'm just piling on to the other comprehesive 5 star reviews of this Nat King Cole 10 CD boxed set. What an incredible bargain! Whether you like jazz instrumentals, vocals or just enjoy Cole's super smooth singing style, there is plenty on these CDs for everyone. About 100 tracks feature Cole vocalizing on slow or medium tempo standards and lesser known, but still excellent songs. He is accompanied on the majority of tracks by his trio of guitar, piano (Cole) and bass. Many tracks are instrumental trio ballads with consistently great solos by Cole and one of his guitar sidemen. A few tracks feature a big band sound. Of course, in such a comprehensive set there will be tracks that you may not enjoy. I quickly skipped through the somewhat dated and (to me) annoying "jive" tracks as well as the "novelty" songs such as "Old MacDonald" and "Nursery Rhymes." In marking down the ballad and medium tempo songs, both vocal and instrumental, that I intend to download to my iPod, I have already found over 85 outstanding tracks in the 7 CDs I have had time to review. That's over 11 straight ahead, gorgeous Cole vocal and piano interpretations per disc. At less than 2 bucks per CD I can't think of a better way to add to a jazz collection or obtain material for at least 6 or 7 hours of beautiful, relaxing downloads.

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Nat "King" Cole gilt vielerorts als Schmalz-Sänger. Das ist auch nicht falsch. Die Vier-CD-Box von Capitol deckt vor allem Coles letzte Schaffensphase als Pop-Sänger bestens ab. Die Zehner-Kiste von Membran zeigt Gott sei Dank, dass er weitaus mehr drauf hatte. Zeitlich gesehen ist sie das Ergänzungsstück zum Capitol-Set - gewissermaßen das Prequel.Das clever zusammengestellte Repertoire zeigt, erstens, Coles Vielseitigkeit zwischen Swing und Blues, Pop und Doo-Wop, und, zweitens, offenbart sie Coles Meisterschaft als Sänger und Pianist, als Solist und, mehr noch, als perfekter Teamplayer. Coles Interplays mit dem Gitarristen Oscar Moore sind ganz große Klasse. Wobei man nicht vergessen: All diese kleine Finessen sind eingebaut in Stücke, die sich streng an das Drei-Minuten-Schema halten.Klangtechnisch überzeugen die Silberlinge meistens.Das Gesamtpaket schrammt - wegen gelegentlicher Abstriche am Sound - am fünften Stern vorbei.

Tout est très bon , sauf l'emballage , c'est arrivé ouvert mais l'audition de l'album de Nat King Cole était''excellent'' , merci.

Though Black Sabbath has been my favorite band since 1971, Nat King Cole has been my favorite signer for just about as long.Sound quality on this set is good but not great- I have to remind myself some of these recordings are 60 or so years old!Bottom line, though, is that I got roughly a couple hundred songs for about $25, and I call that a home run right over the centerfield fence.This was also my very first Amazon online purchase and I will definitely shop here again- and often!Thanks,John