King Cole Trio - Transcriptions Vol. 5 1940

2004 CD collection.

Between 1938 and 1941 Nat provided the instrumental backings on about 200 broadcast transcription discs issued on the Keystone, MacGregor and Standard labels, many of which are still unpublished. These featured various artists (including The Dreamers, vocalists Maxene Johnson, Juanelda Carter and Pauline Byrns) and the solo and instrumental items are invariably prefaced by Nat’s florid, Hinesian one-note-run intros, characterised by vocals by trio members which alternate scat with lyrics. The majority of the transcriptions predate the Trio’s first commercial discs (Gone With The Draft was also featured in their first Decca session) and in general they represent a fair cross-section of the jazz and Tin Pan Alley standards the Trio would have aired in clubs. Their repertoire is remarkable in its diversity (reflecting Nat’s catholic tastes and early assimilation of many styles, both serious and mundane) and includes light-hearted jazzings of light classics, as was then the fashion.

Many of the transcription items are of obscure authorship although the majority are the improvisations – if not actual creations – of Cole himself. Producer David Lennick has offered the following clarification: ‘Transcription companies syndicated their recordings to radio stations, and often recorded songs that were originals (to which they held the copyrights although they remained unpublished). Credits were never given on the labels since the leasing agreement included the right to play the songs on air without having to declare the composers’ names.’