Search - Nat "King" Cole: The Snader Telescriptions on DVD

Nat Cole in Transition

Jim Davidson | Berkeley, CA | 09/03/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Snader Telescriptions were short music films sold to television stations in 1950-52 to be used as filler. Each film usually consisted of one song and lasted about 3 minutes. Many big stars of the day were seen on telescriptions, including Nat King Cole and his trio.

Appearing with Nat in these performances are Irving Ashby on guitar, Joe Comfort on bass, and Jack Costanzo on conga drum. This was a crucial period for Nat because he was in transition from being a singer/pianist accompanied by his trio, to a full blown pop ballad singer accompanied by large orchestra. Some of the films on this disc are pure jazz performances by the trio, but others are pop ballads with lush orchestral arrangements, with the trio lamely standing around trying to look like they're contributing to the performances.

The music is first rate and highly recommended. Of particular interest are several rare alternate takes, some very different from the better known versions and some in color.

There's not much in the way of extras here. A biography is included, but in a particularly embarrassing gaffe, it's for pianist Kenny Drew, who has nothing to do with this disc. The sound is, for the most part, in synch, which cannot be said for the DVD "Soundies and Telescriptions" from IDEM."