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Jazz Standard 116 – East 27 Street
July 30 to August 1
He is laid-back, cool and expressive. His easy delivery, the smoky intimacy of his voice, and a sly wit insinuating itself through the music have helped him gathered a young international following. He is also a potent jazz pianist, with hefty chords and appealing melodic improvisations. At 78, Lionel Frederick “Freddy” Cole is a singular voice in the jazz and cabaret world, no longer known as just Nat King Cole’s brother and Natalie’s uncle.
This is not to say there’s no resemblance between the brothers both on piano and vocally. Echoes of the Nat King Cole warm, wrap-around sound also belong to his younger brother, whose voice has a raspier, more lived-in edge. Where Nat Cole often set a mood for romance, Freddy Cole has a cagey insouciance. His repertoire is the American songbook elucidated with influences of other greats in jazz like Count Basie and Duke Ellington. His singing echoes the influences of Billy Eckstein, Frank Sinatra, and Billie Holiday, but at the end, it all adds up to Freddy Cole, who keeps the lyrics in mind, and phrases for the song’s intent.
His quartet included guitarist Randy Napoleon, drummer Curtis Boyd and bassist Elias Bailey, all with big ears, listening and responding. Here, he also featured Harry Allen on tenor saxophone. They performed a mix of up-tempo tunes and ballads, including a gorgeous “But Beautiful” (Burke, Van Heusen), wistful with short phrases, precise diction, and a smoldering sax. From the Billie Holiday songbook, the emotional thermometer soared with a sultry, “Easy Living” (Robin and Rainger), with Allen’s sax and Napoleon’s articulate, colorful guitar. Cole sang “Love Walked In” (George and Ira Gershwin), at the mic, spotlighting Bailey on bass. A swinging, “It’s Crazy, But I’m in Love” (Timmie Rogers), was part of the Nat King Cole songbook in his TV days. Another Nat Cole classic was a hard swinging, “Send for Me,” and here Cole moved to the microphone and son, Lionel, sat in on piano. The only slight veering from slow/swing beats was in Billy Joel’s, “I Love You Just the Way You Are,” over a Latin rhythm support.
Dedicating “What Are You Afraid Of?” (Wells/Segal) to singers Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, who were in the house, Cole stepped away from the piano and devilishly squeezed all the impish innuendo from the lyric that he could. The line, “You know you can trust me/If I dim a light” – could have come with a sly wink, but of course, the point was already made. When he sang, “Take your shoes off,” Curtis Boyd shouted out from behind his drums, “Take your shoes off?” It was a crowd-pleaser.
Cole’s son, Lionel, stepped in for a solo vocal with Rodgers and Hart’s “My Funny Valentine,” his voice deep and rich, his delivery overly intense. He does not show the natural communication of his father, often straining in the high pitches and showing fierce concentration. Less is more, but not, I guess, for everyone.
The quartet itself is a treat, always worth a visit. With his indefatigable range, Harry Allen can do it all, sit in with the young bucks or, joining this quartet with a fat sound reminiscent of Ben Webster, enhance the mood of a jazz evening, ’40’s style.
