# Freddy Cole doesn’t apologize for sounding like his brother, Nat “King” Cole: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/10/15/freddy-cole-doesnt-apologize-sounding-like-brother-nat-king-cole-video/
- Published: 2017-10-15T12:44:01+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**15.10. – Happy Birthday !!! Lionel Frederick Cole was born on October 15, 1931,
the youngest of Edward and Paulina Nancy Cole’s five children. His three elder brothers,
Eddie, Ike and Nat (twelve years Freddy’s senior) were all musicians.**

“I started playing piano at five or six,” Freddy remembers. “Music was all around
me.” In the Chicago home of his youth, visitors included Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
and Lionel Hampton. He also credits Billy Eckstine as a major influence. “ He was
a fantastic entertainer,” Freddy recalls. “ I learned so much from just watching
and being around him.” After a possible career with the NFL was shelved due to a
hand injury, he began playing and singing in Chicago clubs as a teenager. Although
he was ready to hit the road at 18, his mother intervened and he continued his musical
education at the Roosevelt Institute in Chicago.

Freddy moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music
and found himself profoundly influenced by John Lewis, Oscar Peterson and Teddy 
Wilson. He got a Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music and then
spent several months on the road as a member of an Earl Bostic band that also included
Johnny Coles and Benny Golson.

It was back in New York that Freddy successfully laid the groundwork for a career
that continues to flourish to this day. He developed a vast repertoire of songs 
in Manhattan bistros and concurrently began to supplement his live performances 
with television and radio commercial jingle work.

A resident of Atlanta, GA since 1972, he currently leads a trio made up of himself,
guitarist Randy Napoleon, drummer Curtis Boyd and bassist Elias Bailey that regularly
tours the US, Europe, the Far East and South America. Freddy has been a recording
artist since 1952, when his first single, The Joke’s on Me, was released on an obscure
Chicago-based label.

Freddy recorded several albums for European and English companies during the 1970s
that helped him develop a loyal overseas following. Cole believes that becoming 
an international favorite made him “widen my scope a little bit.” He developed a
stand-up act, a better rapport with audiences, and learned to sing in other languages.“
It made me much more of a performer.”

Cole doesn’t apologize for sounding like his brother, Nat “King” Cole. There are
certain unmistakable similarities. He plays piano and sings and performs live with
guitar and upright bass, just like Nat. Yet his voice is raspier, smokier, jazzier
even. But he has emerged from the awesome shadow cast by his elder brother. In truth,
his phrasing is far closer to that of Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday than that 
of his brother and his timing swings a little more. His vocals – suave, elegant,
formidable, and articulate – are among the most respected in jazz. Cole’s career
continues to ascend as he has moved into the front ranks of America’s homegrown 
art form with a style and musical sophistication all his own.

![Image result for Freddy Cole](http://www.trbimg.com/img-58e7a5fb/turbine/ct-freddy-
cole-review-ent-0408-20170407)

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