I was lucky enough to see this show here in Australia when it was broadcast on SBS TV network well over 20 years ago. The show was made in the mid fifties, about 10 years before Nat's untimely death of cancer at the age of 45. On the TV show, Nat was in great form. The amazing thing was that he sang live, and I'm presuming Nelson Riddle's orchestra was behind the curtain. When he sang, he never missed a beat or sang a wrong note, and that effortless voice of his had that wonderful timbre that he became known for. The other great thing was that his guests also sang live, and were also performing at a high level.
I must confess to being a fan of Nat's early jazz stuff that he did with his Trio. Nat was a monster piano player and could improvise with the best jazzers of the day. There was one show featuring Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge and many others which showed this side of Nat's musical ability. (Most of this show is cut up into smaller segments on youtube but if you google 'Nat King Cole Show JATP' you should get most of it).
But most of the time it was Nat singing ballads of the day that would appeal to the masses. He also had some wonderful singers appearing such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Peggy Lee and many many more. Nat's later trio sometimes featured as his back up, but it was mostly orchestral .
I'm a big fan of four part vocal harmonies and this was the first time I got to see the Hi- Lo's who were just sensational.
While a few of these shows are on youtube, it would be great to see them all located, cleaned up and released on DVD. It really was Nat in his singing prime, and is valuable for an insight into one of the greatest singers of all time.
