When I Fall in Love: The One and Only Nat King Cole

How good was Nat “King” Cole? Good enough that Ray Charles pretty much copped Cole's entire vocal and piano style long before Charles went on to achieve greatness as “the Genius.” These 20 tunes from The Nat King Cole Show, which aired briefly on NBC-TV in the ‘50s, offer a perfect introduction for the uninitiated (all of the numbers are in black-and-white and delivered in just one hour, and that's including interviews with Cole's widow and brother, plus Natalie and his two other daughters). By this time, Cole was no longer the jive-talking, hipster jazz pianist of the ‘40s and not yet the full-on pop crooner who would enjoy his greatest successes in the ‘60s with middle-of-the-road fodder like “Ramblin' Rose” and “Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer”; indeed, here we get the best of both worlds. His jazz side is still in effect: witness duets with Ella Fitzgerald (“Too Close for Comfort”) and the Mills Brothers (a thoroughly swinging “Opus One”), not to mention a version of “Sweet Lorraine” that finds Cole backed by pianist Oscar Peterson, saxophone legend Coleman Hawkins, bassist Ray Brown, and guitarist Herb Ellis. On the other hand, you'll also find the songs that endeared him to a wider (and whiter) audience, such as “Mona Lisa,” “I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” and the inevitable “The Christmas Song.” Many of these same performances (and about two dozen more) can also be found on another DVD, The Incomparable Nat “King” Cole (VL-11/02); both releases feature excellent Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo sound, but When I Fall in Love contains the really essential material, as well as solid interviews. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (S. Graham)