"Nat King Cole's St. Louis Blues" on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

This week on Night Lights it’s “Nat King Cole’s St. Louis Blues.” A so-called “biopic” of the blues composer W.C. Handy’s life, this 1958 movie was Cole’s only role as a leading man, and it also included Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, and Eartha Kitt in its all-black cast, along with the underrated Juano Hernandez (who had portrayed the trumpeter Art Hazard in the 1950 jazz film Young Man With a Horn) as Handy’s father. Coming on the heels of Cole’s legendary but unsponsored and ultimately cancelled TV show, this film went out with high hopes on the part of its makers and stars, but it failed at the box office and is rarely mentioned in media accounts of Cole’s career. We’ll hear selections from the soundtrack album that Cole recorded with arranger Nelson Riddle, as well as music from Kitt and Ella Fitzgerald, who makes a brief appearance as herself late in the movie. “Nat King Cole’s St. Louis Blues” airs Saturday, July 1 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU-Bloomington and at 10 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. It will also air on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio FM 90.3 at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening. The program will be posted in the Night Lights archives Monday afternoon.

Next week: "Vibin': Roy Ayers in the 1960s."

Edited October 2, 2007 by ghost of miles

[Lazaro Vega]

They included a good chunk of Cole's appearance from this film in the recent documentary "The World of Nat Cole" or some such title. The dance numbers for the women were insane -- these Alvin Ailey type, super drama, "arty" moves that played to Hollywood and film far more than the blues. I guess Eartha Kit was giving her earthy kit to Nat during the film, and that she fell for him all the way. She implied as much in an interview from that documentary.

Handy was to the blues what the early church was to vocal music: a standardizer, putting it in a form that allowed it to be expressed by a group. Otherwise the blues were a free for all in the sense that the emotions of the performer dictated the form. Group music wouldn't really deal with that until Ornette.

[Hank]

I found a CD of this not long ago in a used bin. I wasn't aware of it, or the movie, but I'm glad I found it. As you might imagine, there's 7 or 8 blues tracks among 12 in all, all with nice brassy Riddle arrangements.

[alocispepraluger102]

I found a CD of this not long ago in a used bin. I wasn't aware of it, or the movie, but I'm glad I found it. As you might imagine, there's 7 or 8 blues tracks among 12 in all, all with nice brassy Riddle arrangements.

classic Riddle

[ghost of miles]

Didn't catch that recent Cole bio, but glad to hear they paid some attention to ST. LOUIS BLUES. The program is now archived.

Edited October 2, 2007 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Found a couple of cool videos from Cole's TV show around this time that are related to the movie: Cole and Mahalia Jackson doing a duet of "Steal Away," and Cole and a young Billy Preston trading off on "Blueberry Hill." Posted them on the program's archive page.