Album Reviews

The first question I asked myself when contemplating the newly unearthed 1953 concert recording of Nat King Cole duly dubbed Live at the Blue Note Chicago — which is earmarked for release on the next upcoming Record Store Day, April 20 — is why would audiophile-leaning vinyl enthusiasts and jazz fans alike want it in their collections? The combination of great performances, of-era sound quality, and pricing topped my requirements list, and, fortunately, Live at the Blue Note Chicago has enough of all three to satisfy my listening/collecting needs — but what about yours?

The following info should be considered as some important perspective as you start building your want/must-have list for the upcoming Record Store Day on April 20, 2024. Before I cruise down “Route 66” to get into the joys of Nat King Cole’s Live at the Blue Note Chicago, let’s first explore some of the DNA behind this fascinating release from Iconic, the new label from music industry legend Irving Azoff. In case you don’t know, Iconic Artists Group is the company that has been, of late, buying up the catalogs of notable artists like David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, Graham Nash, Rod Stewart, Bryan Ferry, Cher, and many others — and here’s hoping more archival releases like this one from Nat King Cole wilt eventually ensue.

From official Iconic press materials, we learn that these historic, never-before-heard performances from Nat King Cole’s week-long residency at the Blue Note in Chicago in 1953 have been lovingly restored to create this new 2LP set. Live at the Blue Note Chicago features lacquers cut by mastering engineer Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, and it has been pressed-on 180g vinyl at RTI. The album comes housed in a classic-designed, glossy-laminated Stoughton-style gatefold jacket, and it will see a limited release on Record Store Day at select independent music retailers — a list of which you can find right here. (We will, of course, have more extensive RSD preview and review coverage to come.)

Each Live at the Blue Note Chicago disc comes housed in an audiophile-grade plastic inner-sleeve, and the 2LP collection also comes with a six-page, LP-sized booklet as well as a replica of an original Blue Note club newsletter from the period (featuring Nat King Cole, of course!). The SRP for this 2LP set is $49.98, and we’re also told this same deluxe edition will see “wider global distribution” in late May.

Before I get into sound quality considerations, I’ll say upfront that the underlying premise for releasing this particular set from the label’s perspective is accurate. These are clearly top performances by the artist Nat King Cole at a peak, captured at the crossroads of his career just as he was transitioning from jazz powerhouse to pop idol. A number of people these days may not even comprehend that Cole was initially known as a respected jazz cat who played with the best of the absolute best back in the day. He even performed at Norman Granz’s very first Jazz at The Philharmonic concerts back in 1944, a performance that includes legendary cat-and-mouse soloing fire-play between Cole and then-hot session electric guitarist Les Paul. By the late 1940s, both artists would be household names from their respective hit releases on Capitol.

Official press materials for Live at the Blue Note Chicago paint a pretty clear picture of the scene and import of the music found here: “Recorded by club owner Frank Holzfeind, who fatefully taped shows each night at the nation’s premier jazz venue for his enjoyment, Live at the Blue Note Chicago creates a personal connection, taking the listener back to Cole’s Chicago roots and showcasing a different side of him during a time when jazz was at the forefront of musical exploration and cultural expression. The collection features the unbridled raw energy of his trio — John Collins (guitar), Charlie Harris (bass), Lee Young (drums) — lead by Cole’s fierce piano playing, instantly recognizable velvety voice, and sophisticated charm, intimately performing the timeless American songbook.”

Indeed, Cole’s voice on Live at the Blue Note Chicago is rich and inviting, while his piano work with his trio is exemplary. Kudos must go to producer James Sàez for not only exploring all these recordings — some 200 takes, in all — but finding the best versions of each track for an idealized set. From Sàez’s own producer’s notes, we gain more insight into the album’s making:

“I started the critical listening process, making long lists of notes and cataloging all of the takes: which songs did we have in their entirety, which ones had audio or performance issues, and which takes would represent the band’s very best moments. I spent weeks working on a sequence that followed Cole’s set list, including transitions, crowd participation, and introductions during the show. Because these were Frank’s personal recordings, and he was the busy owner of this nation’s premier jazz venue, the recordings often started and cut off in the middle of songs. The Chicago-made Webcor reel-to-reel tape machine sat back in his office, pulsing its Magic Eye to the level of the band, but levels could get hot and some of the reels had aged better than others. As there was no real recording engineer and the microphones were not always in the same stage position, the static level to tape changed from nigh to night. Because of this, the more up-tempo songs tended to be more saturated with distortion, especially late in the evening, and the band-to-vocal balance wasn’t always consistent. The vocal microphone that was placed over the piano keys often clanged and rattled as Nat moved the sway arm out of the way during the solos and intros. The task ahead was daunting.”

All that said, as great as this Live at the Blue Note Chicago collection is, the key challenge some hardcore audiophiles may have with it is getting their sonic heads around the reality of how these recordings were made. The album itself was culled from more than 10 hours of relatively slow-moving 7½ips tapes recorded with two microphones hung over the stage (dual mono) by Blue Note owner Frank Holzfeind on a then still quite new technology, a reel-to-reel tape recorder that was stealthily located in his back office.

On the one hand, these recordings do sound pretty incredible, all things considered. No doubt there was a lot of (likely digital) cleanup necessary to create this 2LP set. Everything sounds clean and quiet. As 70-year-old monaural quasi-professional recordings go, I can hear why the producers of this collection were excited to bring this music out to the public.

So, while these recordings do sound very good for the time period and the circumstances they were recorded under, one has to adjust modern-day expectations accordingly. The sound quality here reminds me of old radio broadcast transcription discs I have heard from the 1940s and ’50s that offer a certain sonic footprint sculpted by the microphones and recording gear of the period as well as the often modest and even raw engineering techniques used to capture the performances. I am reminded — and I offer this as a compliment, in the best possible way — of the amazing and unlikely recordings of Duke Ellington made by student fans in 1940 in Fargo, North Dakota (the only known complete recording of a full concert by Duke’s legendary Blanton-Webster band).

When you turn up the volume on Live at the Blue Note Chicago tracks like “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (Side One, Track 4), you can certainly feel the vibe of the band, as the bass and guitars swing out quite clearly in the mix. Amazingly, the drums are remarkably balanced, sitting way in the background of “the mix” (if you will). This is probably as much of a testament to drummer Lee Young (brother of saxophone legend Lester Young) as it is to the placement of the microphones, underscoring his sensitivity to the club’s volume levels. A great drummer will support without overwhelming the vocals and piano playing. Nonprofessional club recordings of bands often are overwhelmed by loud drums — so, from that perspective, what’s on these tapes is indeed something special.

As far as favorite moments so far on Live at the Blue Note Chicago, I couldn’t help but smile hearing audience members spontaneously singing along with — and seemingly surprising — Cole on “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” (Side Three, Track 2). This underscores just how popular he was at the time. This classic audience behavior listeners like us, some 70 years later, might find surprising for an artist of that era, something that’s much more commonplace today. In fact, this may be one of the earliest recorded examples I can recall hearing of a passionate audience responding in kind to a beloved artist of Cole’s stature.

There are so many other special moments here as well, such as “Our Love Is Here to Stay” (Side One, Track 5), “Straighten Up and Fly Right (Side Three, Track 5), and, of course, Cole’s classic interpretation of “Route 66,” which closes the proceedings (Side Four, Track 6).

Poking around the interwebs and on Qobuz, I do see there have been other posthumous Nat King Cole live recordings surfacing, such as Swiss Radio Days, which was recorded in Zurich in 1950, backed by a larger, big-band styled-orchestra (apparently conducted by Quincy Jones). There are many recordings of Cole out there, many of which seem to be studio-oriented, and that only further underscores the appeal of the small-club performances captured here on Live at the Blue Note Chicago.

As for our ratings, the music on Live at the Blue Note Chicago ranks a firm 9, as Nat and his band are on, and clearly connecting with the audiences in this intimate, earthy quartet jazz club performance. This is the artist sans the shimmering, glitzy orchestral ballroom sparkle found on the posthumous Live at The Sands LP, recorded in Las Vegas on January 14, 1960 and released on Capitol in 1966. (Sidenote: I happened upon a copy of this record at Amoeba Music coincidentally earlier this week [see cover art above!], and purchased it for further listening and reviewing perspective.)

As far as the Sound rating goes, as great as Live at the Blue Note Chicago is, we still have to give this album a 5.5 rating (which appears as a 6 on the volume meter graphic), mainly due to the somewhat limited overall fidelity as discussed above. You will certainly hear great performances on this album, but there are moments of periodic distortion and an overall midrange sonic flavor to the music, especially on the bass and guitars. There is not a lot of deep low end to be found here nor the dynamic high-frequency airiness of the club environment, which is totally understandable given the circumstances that went into its making.

Now, if you are looking for a recording that captures the crisp ching of cymbals, the resonant plink of a well-recorded acoustic piano and the periodic clink of cocktail glasses, well, clinking, this RSD LP may not be ideal for you. But if you want to hear what Nat King Cole sounded like at his artistic peak in 1953, situated between his impeccable jazz roots and mega-pop stardom, then Live at the Blue Note Chicago is quite the time capsule. If you love Cole’s music or are simply curious to hear him performing in a more stripped-back small-club environment, Live at the Blue Note Chicago will be something you’ll want to have on your Record Store Day shopping list.

Mark Smotroff is an avid vinyl collector who has also worked in marketing communications for decades. He has reviewed music for AudiophileReview.com, among others, and you can see more of his impressive C.V. at LinkedIn.

NAT KING COLE
LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE CHICAGO
180g 2LP (Iconic)

Side One
1. Frank Holzfeind Introduction #1
2. Little Girl
3. Unforgettable
4. It’s Only A Paper Moon
5. Love Is Here To Stay
6. Too Marvelous For Words
7. What Does It Take

Side Two
1. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
2. Exactly Like You
3. Sweet Lorraine
4. Can’t I
5. Band Introduction :
6. Calypso Blues

Side Three
1. Frank Holzfeind Introduction #2
2. Walkin’ My Baby Back Home
3. Mona Lisa / Too Young
4. Blue Gardenia
5. Straighten Up And Fly Right
6. Funny (Not Much)
7. Somewhere Along The Way
8. Nature Boy

Side Four
1. Pretend
2. A Fool Was I
3. If Love Is Good To Me
4. I Am In Love
5. This Can’t Be Love
6. Route 66