The Christmas Song
Nat King Cole
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Browse piano sheets by Nat King Cole on Zen Virtual Piano. Nat King Cole, born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919, was a singer and jazz pianist. Edward James Coles, his father, was a Baptist minister. Perlina Adams, his mother, served as soprano soloist and as choir director at her husband's church. Cole's keyboard playing began at age four, when he picked out "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on the family piano. He later filled in for his mother on the organ at church. His mother's role leading the church choir and his own turn at the church organ may suggest that church music was part of his early musical surroundings. At DuSable High School, Cole joined Walter Dyett's music program. He would also slip out of the house and sit outside clubs, listening to Jimmie Noone, Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong. At 15 Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. When a club owner asked him to form a band, Cole hired bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore. His time in Dyett's program and the performers he listened to from outside the clubs may hint at a musician who learned from both school and live performance. Swing with a delicate touch was the trio's specialty, and it went without a drummer. Its piano and guitar voicings were often juxtaposed so that they sounded like one instrument. Cole was known for a compact, syncopated piano style with clean, spare, melodic phrases, and he was an influence on jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson. Cole's influence on jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson and his start at the keyboard at age four may suggest that the piano mattered both in his own beginnings and to other pianists. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded "The Christmas Song," written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé, in June 1946. Capitol Records, his label, objected, but Cole asked for a second recording anyway, and it followed in August with a small ensemble of strings. That take was a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole said, "I started out to become a jazz pianist," and added that in the meantime he started singing. His start as a would-be jazz pianist and the pop and R&B chart success of the second recording may point to a musician heard as both pianist and singer. The Nat King Cole Show, which debuted on NBC television in 1956, made Cole the first African American to host a network variety program, and it was canceled after one season. In 1958 Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record Cole Español, an album sung entirely in Spanish. Filling in for his mother on the church organ and hosting a network variety program may point to a performer whose settings ranged from a church organ to network television.
Browse piano sheets by Nat King Cole on Zen Virtual Piano.
Nat King Cole, born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919, was a singer and jazz pianist. Edward James Coles, his father, was a Baptist minister. Perlina Adams, his mother, served as soprano soloist and as choir director at her husband's church. Cole's keyboard playing began at age four, when he picked out "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on the family piano. He later filled in for his mother on the organ at church. His mother's role leading the church choir and his own turn at the church organ may suggest that church music was part of his early musical surroundings.
At DuSable High School, Cole joined Walter Dyett's music program. He would also slip out of the house and sit outside clubs, listening to Jimmie Noone, Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong. At 15 Cole dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. When a club owner asked him to form a band, Cole hired bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore. His time in Dyett's program and the performers he listened to from outside the clubs may hint at a musician who learned from both school and live performance.
Swing with a delicate touch was the trio's specialty, and it went without a drummer. Its piano and guitar voicings were often juxtaposed so that they sounded like one instrument. Cole was known for a compact, syncopated piano style with clean, spare, melodic phrases, and he was an influence on jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson. Cole's influence on jazz pianists such as Oscar Peterson and his start at the keyboard at age four may suggest that the piano mattered both in his own beginnings and to other pianists.
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded "The Christmas Song," written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé, in June 1946. Capitol Records, his label, objected, but Cole asked for a second recording anyway, and it followed in August with a small ensemble of strings. That take was a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole said, "I started out to become a jazz pianist," and added that in the meantime he started singing. His start as a would-be jazz pianist and the pop and R&B chart success of the second recording may point to a musician heard as both pianist and singer.
The Nat King Cole Show, which debuted on NBC television in 1956, made Cole the first African American to host a network variety program, and it was canceled after one season. In 1958 Cole went to Havana, Cuba, to record Cole Español, an album sung entirely in Spanish. Filling in for his mother on the church organ and hosting a network variety program may point to a performer whose settings ranged from a church organ to network television.
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Nat King Cole
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Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919, and his keyboard playing began at age four when he picked out "Yes, We Have No Bananas" on the family piano.
Cole hired bassist Wesley Prince and guitarist Oscar Moore, and the trio did not use a drummer.
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946, and a second recording with a small group of strings, made in August at Cole's behest, became a massive hit on the pop and R&B charts.
It debuted on NBC television in 1956 and made Cole the first African American to host a network variety program; it was canceled after one season.