King Cole Trio - Transcriptions Vol. 4 1939-1940

2003 CD collection. Featuring The Dreamers, tracks 9 to 16.

Between 1938 and 1941 Nat provided the instrumental backings on about 200 broadcast transcription discs issued on the Keystone, MacGregor and Standard labels, many of which remain unpublished.  These featured various artists (including The Dreamers, vocalists Lake, Juanelda Carter and Pauline Byrns & Her Perils) and the solo and instrumental items are invariably prefaced by Nat’s florid, Hinesian one-note-run intros, characterised by vocals by trio members ad hoc in which scat alternates with lyrics.  The majority of the transcriptions predate the Trio’s first commercial discs, (Deccas, recorded in December 1940) and in general they represent a fair cross-section of the many jazz and Tin Pan Alley standards the Trio would have aired in clubs.  

Their repertoire is remarkable in its diversity (possibly a reflection of Nat’s catholic tastes and early assimilation of many styles – serious and mundane) and includes light-hearted jazzings of light classics, in the style of the day.  There are, however, many items of obscure authorship although some, if not all, may simply be improvisations by Cole himself.  Our compiler-producer David Lennick has offered the following clarification : “Transcription companies syndicated their recordings to radio stations, and often recorded songs that were originals (to which they held the copyrights although they remained unpublished).  Credits were never given on the labels since the leasing agreement included the right to play the songs on air without having to declare the composers’ names.”