This Collectors’ Choice pairing finds two interesting and modest entries in the Nat King Cole oeuvre placed together on one CD: Songs from St. Louis Blues from 1958 is paired with Looking Back from 1965.
Songs from St. Louis Blues is associated with the 1958 Paramount film that starred Nat as legendary blues composer W.C. Handy. The movie also featured a number of jazz and blues greats, including Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Eartha Kitt. To my knowledge, the film is unavailable on home video or DVD and is somewhat legendary according to those that have seen it. For the rest of us, we’ll have to do with this little memento.
Working with the always reliable Nelson Riddle, Nat rolls through some truly great songs. These are studio versions of the songs featured in the movie, allowing for Riddle and Cole to tackle Handy’s best tunes with their own inventive spirit.
Riddle adapts his customary compositional style to match Handy’s original sense for the songs, giving the blues a chance to shine without being overwhelmed by unnecessary strings or horns. The silky and fun “Chantez Les Bas” is a good indication of this, as Cole is light as air over the simple Riddle conditions.
Other tracks take Cole’s background as an explorer of the blues to new heights. “Friendless Blues” is a soulful and poignant rendition of a classic, while “Joe Turner’s Blues” kicks things up more than a few notches for a bubbly and vivacious expression of Handy’s musical skill. And of course the famed “St. Louis Blues” is simply stunning with Riddle’s swirling composition and Nat’s impeccable baritone.
Looking Back was issued posthumously in 1965 and followed the traditional Capitol Records technique of collecting material from singles releases and putting them on a compilation album. The idea was to offer the record as a sort of concession for hungry fans while they waited for the next Nat King Cole conceptual record. Unfortunately, Nat King Cole passed away in February of ’65.
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