Search - Nat King Cole :: The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio

Complete, And Completely Awesome!

10/17/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There's over 260 tracks on the 18 CDs that make up this box set! (over 18 hours of material!) If you can find it, buy it! It's every track that the Nat King Cole Trio recorded for Capitol, including outtakes, transcription-only tunes and alternate versions (Ever hear the original take of "The Christmas Song" with no strings? It's on here!). A full 1/3 of this set has never been commercially released before! The 12x12 booklet of liner notes is an education in itself. This box set won a Grammy for Best Historical Compilation, and deservedly so! It was also limited to an edition not to exceed 10,000 copies, so like I said, if you see it somewhere, you better grab it!! Definitely on the pricey side, but it's a must-have if you're a true lover of Nat King Cole... one of the most beautiful voices of his, or any, generation."

(4.5) Stars! A "must-have" if you can get one at a good pric

Vocal Jazz Fan | United States | 08/01/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I managed to find this box set a few years ago when it wasn't quite as expensive and haven't regretted my purchase for an instant. The selections of Nat King Cole Trio performances are unparalleled.



Recently, I was on a trip and listening to a Jazz format radio station while spending some time on the road. The station was playing this entire box set over a month-long period and the DJ couldn't say enough good things about the set. One of the interesting things he mentioned is that many of these recordings are radio transcriptions, not recordings made for record sales. The result of this is that artists cutting transcriptions didn't have all of the record company executives pushing them to record quickly and forcing them to do material that would generate record sales. You can definitely tell that the Nat King Cole Trio took their time and put their hearts into playing on these transcriptions.



The audio, though mono, is of very high quality considering the time period and technology available at the time. I suspect that most were recorded to coarse-groove 16-inch platters-but I'm just guessing at that.



Many of the songs are selections that Nat would continue to record the rest of his career. "Paper Moon," "How High the Moon," "Sweet Lorraine," and many others should be familiar to almost everyone. Here, they are fresh and Nat's voice isn't overwhelmed by a large orchestra. His voice also hadn't been affected by years of chain smoking his sponsor's cigarettes (the thing eventually caused his death when he should have had many more years of work left to give us).



Nat had a good thing going with the trio format. You will enjoy them today as much, if not more than the world did back when all of this material was played over the radio.

"

You can't have mine

Wes | World Citizen, Earth | 04/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased a new box of this set many years ago and am amazed to see what it's fetching (up to $2500). The fact of the matter is that it is quite worth it. It is 18 discs of solid, classic, archival jazz from the immortal Nat King Cole."