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Freddy Cole said he was "fair to partly cloudy" the other day, but
from the easy way he talked and the frequency of his chuckles on
the phone from his home in Atlanta, he sounded "mostly sunny."
Cole, younger sibling of the late, great Nat "King" Cole, has just
released a new album, "Love Makes the Changes," featuring tunes
by such familiar composers as Michel Legrand, Marilyn and Alan Bergman,
Jimmy van Heusen and Sammy Cahn. He is accompanied by such jazz
musicians as Cedar Walton, Eric Alexander and Grover Washington
Jr., among others.
Freddy Cole's heart is in jazz.
"I definitely love jazz best," he said, "but I'm not limited just
to jazz. I do from Broadway to the blues. And I'm very aware of
contemporary artists. There's no telling what I might do."
In concert, he performs some of the tunes made famous by brother
Nat. But he wouldn't always have done that.
"For a long time I just stayed away from it completely because everyone
was talking about comparisons. There is no comparison," Freddy Cole
said.
"I've learned how to deal with that aspect in my life. I was stagnant
- I let it keep me stagnant. But when I started to deal with it,
I started to move forward."
Nat "King" Cole was 12 1/2 years older than Freddy, who now is 66.
"Even though there was an age difference between my brother and
me, there was always something special in our household," Freddy
said. The older brother already had some measure of success while
the younger one was still in school. "He used to come home to watch
me play football," Cole said.
There were five children; Freddy was the youngest. And it was a
musical household from the beginning. The father, Edward, was a
minister and also led a band called the Solid Swingers. Mother Paulina
played piano and directed the church choir. "There has always been
music in the house. All of us played music."
Freddy Cole started playing piano at 5. "I just looked up one day
and started playing," he said. "It was just a musical gift, a blessing,
I guess."
But he didn't become serious about music until much later. He was
going to be a pro athlete. "I was heavily into sports, all-state
football, baseball, you name it. Unfortunately I got hurt playing
football, and I couldn't go on. I had several scholarship offers,"
he said. He also was scouted to play baseball. "The Dodgers wanted
to sign me," he said, "but my dad wouldn't let me."
He studied music instead. During his teens, he began playing and
singing in clubs in his hometown of Chicago. At 20, he was admitted
to the Julliard School of Music in New York. He got a master's in
music from the New England Conservatory of Music and started his
professional career.
"I haven't had the amount of success that some might think I should
have had," he said, "but I have no regrets. I'm very happy with
what I've chosen to do in life."
There are similarities of honeyed tone and phrasing in Freddy Cole's
singing that suggest his brother. It can't be helped. "It's just
a family thing," he said. "You can talk to my brother Ike on the
phone and think you're talking to me. We're all very much alike."
It has been suggested that Freddy Cole might had more success had
he not been Nat's younger brother, but he disagrees. "I've not been
hindered," he said. "Had there not been Nat Cole, there might not
be Freddy Cole. In my way of looking at it, it's just lack of exposure.
"Timing plays an important part in everyone's life," he said. "Right
now, I feel that my time has got here. I've worked hard over the
years to get to this point of life."
"There's one song on my new album that really states it. It's the
second one, 'On My Way to You,' and it says, 'I wouldn't change
a thing.'
"And truly, I wouldn't."
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