(original recordings) – January 30, May 6, September 30, 1958, April 1959, March 1, 1960 (new recordings) – March 22–24, 27, 29–30, April 3, July 6, 19–20, 1961[1]
The Nat King Cole Story is a 1961
album by
Nat King Cole. The album was a retrospective of Cole's recording career, designed to present many of his earlier hits in new recordings featuring
stereo sound. Cole is accompanied on the re-recordings by many of the notable arrangers and bands that had appeared with him on the original records.[2]
Of particular note is Cole's re-recording of "
The Christmas Song". This was Cole's fourth, and final, recording of the song, and also the first version recorded in stereo. This recording of the song was subsequently added to a 1963 reissue of Cole's 1960 LP The Magic of Christmas (the album concurrently retitled The Christmas Song and given new cover art), and remains one of Cole's best-known recordings and among the most-played Christmas tunes on radio each December.
This compilation also marks the last time Cole would record with a Trio. In addition to The Christmas Song, referenced above, the album includes Cole's recreations in Stereo of five of his early Trio hits, including "
Straighten Up and Fly Right", "
Sweet Lorraine", "
It's Only a Paper Moon", "
Route 66" and "
For Sentimental Reasons", in addition to "
Orange Colored Sky", a re-recording of a song originally done in 1950 in conjunction with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.
In 2011, the
Analogue Productions label reissued the album as a 2-disc hybrid
SACD set and a 5-disc 45 rpm vinyl set. Both versions feature a new stereo mix of the entire album by
Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, while the SACD also includes a discrete three-channel mix of most songs. Two bonus tracks ("
Ramblin' Rose" and "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer") are also included on both versions.
Personnel
Performance
Nat King Cole –
vocals (1.01–05, 1.08, 1.11, 1.15, 1.18, 2.09, 2.12, 2.15,
lead on 1.06-07, 1.09–10, 1.12–14, 1.16–17, 2.01–08, 2.11, 2.13–14, 2.16–18),
piano (1.01–05)
Dale Anderson –
percussion (1.08–09, 1.15, 1.17–18, 2.07–09, 2.14)