NAT "KING" COLE WAS A SHY YOUNG SOUL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 810, 4 February 1955, Page 7

NAT "KING" COLE WAS A SHY YOUNG SOUL

HERE he is! There he is!" rose * the high pitched scream. "There he was," came a gruff rejoinder in a real Down-Under accent. "Don’t be scared, Nat," it declared. "King" Cole the Shy popped his head round the stage door and as quickly withdrew it. The crowd pushed closer. Two policemen and three traffic cops did their little best. "Come on out! We want Nat!" the chorus continued. "We won't eat you," said the gruff voice again. At those kind words the Shy One took new heart. Already his colleagues had run the gauntlet. Why not he? Why not now? So it was that Nat "King" Cole, America’s top-line vocalist and pianist, stepped into Auckland’s limelight for the last time. He was tugged and pulled, his hand shaken, the sleeves of his jacket stroked as you might stroke a kitten, And did he send them? Not quite, but his driver tried. With engine revving and doors locked tight, the cab brushed aside the would-be hangers-on, and sped down Queen Street, the traffic by-laws notwithstanding. S° ended a memorable night. Auckland was grateful for the two-day stopover and expressed itself accordingly. The audience was young and colourful-one that was easily excited. But for a jazz concert it was surprisingly well behaved, It was reminiscent of a much more serious occasion the way the audience shushed the grating of a chair. One unfortunate latecomer faced a fire of burning glances when the door behind him accidentally slammed. He _ was hushed and. hustled to the ‘nearest seat. They were not all occupied. Some patrons stood in the aisles and against the walls the better to see the performer they" considered th the closer to approach him. : There was no nor, was there time for the cats to call. The applause and shouting had barely ‘started before Cole’s drummer led the orchestra into the introduction of the "next number. The ‘show moved fast. The orchestra, conducted by Auckland's ‘Crombie Murdoch, was (but for:a few lapses) good. Dan Rowan and. Dick Martin had no trouble making a New Zealand audience laugh. Judy Kelly's dancing gown was but the prelude to lesser things. Indeed, ‘her acrobatics made her scanty costume most necessary (or such was the excuse: offered). Blonde and sultry June Christy (*Sister, she slays me!’’) scored a pushover, in spite of the. fact that her audience was 60 or .more_ per cent female. Still they came back for more, as ballad followed bop:in quick succession. There was no hip-wiggling lest tight short. frock should. burst at the seams. But there were gestures, illustrative, suggestive; and a smile which took in the audience at a mouthful. When she spoke her deep, husky voice was full of emotion-as were the kisses tenderly bestowed on compéres Rowan and Martin, who presented her with flowers. Then came Cole. ("Get hep, Man!") "ALL and rangy, with big, broad shoulders (natural) Nat. "King" Cole "might well have been Notre Dame's star pal back, or Jamaica’s crack athlete,

But his movements on stage were slow and casual. When the applause "became threatening he would slink away with hardly a nod, much less"a™bdw, ‘thereby conveying a sense of shyness, His showmanship was of such a retiring nature that hearts warmed to him. As he ‘sang Cole’s white teeth gleamed against the background of his matt-black skin. His mouth, wide open, seemed to be on the verge of eating the microphone at one bite. Yet this same microphone, weighted in the base with lead, he picked up like a toy, carrying it about the stage as he applied his charms first to one section of the audience, then to another. Illuminated as he was in all his ballads by a solitary spotlight, both he and his sonorous voice seemed to fill the hall. A long drawn-out sigh was heard every time he entered the top-pop market with such favourites as Answer Me, Mona Lisa, Too Young, Unforgettable and Dinner for One, Please James. And when he sang Tenderly, his movements matching perfectly the mood, so silent were his listeners that Lee Young’s brushes drummed like a rasp. ‘THE bright numbers brought out @ new,’ gayer Nat "King" Cole. He would frequently cesert the microphone for his piano, where, in comic fashion, he would run out of keys and play on the wood instead. Two instrumental items which displayed his undoubted virtuosity at the keyboard, also gave an opportunity of watching the style of the trio. Bassman Charles Harris grinned and capered as he plucked at his strings, and seemed much, much too interested in a precocious young thing in the circle. John Collins, guitarist, was a human statue. Only his beating foot betrayed him, Lee Young took credit for some fine solo work on the drums, but more particularly for the sharp eye he kept on the orchestra, which never missed @ cue. | It was hot work while it lasted, but it didn’t last Jong-just an hour and threequarters, with Cole taking. some 45 minutes to- "himself. But that was long enough to convince Auckland jazz-fiends that Nat's. a real 1 nice guy.