Jazz
Blue Note is adding Nat King Cole’s «After Midnight» to its Tone Poet series: a 180-gram double vinyl out 13 November.
The edition is produced by Joe Harley and mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue tapes; it’s pressed at Record Technology Inc. and comes in a tip-on gatefold sleeve with a booklet, featuring liner notes by Will Friedwald, author of the biography «Straighten Up And Fly Right».
The original record dates from 1956, on Capitol, and grew out of a specific idea: Cole revisited the trio format he’d started out with — himself on piano and vocals, John Collins on guitar, Charlie Harris on double bass and Lee Young on drums — adding a different guest at each session. Featured were Willie Smith on alto sax, Harry «Sweets» Edison on trumpet, Stuff Smith on violin and Juan Tizol on valve trombone, with Jack Costanza on percussion.
It was the first time in years Cole had sat back down at the piano for a record of his own, after having become a singer for mass audiences.
Text by Aina Torrents