Showtime in The Bronx

Natalie Cole's passing last week was sad to me. Even though I didn't follow her music that much, it was one of those things where I felt, "gone too soon". I also couldn't help thinking about her dad, Nat King Cole, who was one of my favorite singers. Actually, the term that better fits him is song stylist. One of my tap mentors years ago, in talking about music and phrasing, used that term to describe Nat King Cole and explained to me what it meant to be a stylist. Basically, it's someone who can tell a story and conveying a message in song, rather than only having a "great" singing voice. I got to appreciate Nat King Cole, and other performing artists quite early in my life.

The manual for my dad's camera

My dad grew up in Manhattan in the early part of the 20th century and had a great love for popular performers. When he and my mom "courted" in the 1930's they went to see the greats like, Cab
Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Chick Webb, Snake Hips Tucker and Bessie Dudley. He also became interested in film, acquiring a 16mm Bolex camera that he used to record life in New York City, particularly in Harlem. It was also used to shoot friends and family from the 1950's through the 1960's. We would look at these films and something else.

It was a big deal when dad took out the folding screen to set up and film projector to look at our films There were two projectors, one silent and the other with sound.  The silent was for the family films, but when the sound projector came out, it meant special time because that's when we'd look at the soundies. These were short films shot mainly in the 40's of popular musical entertainers of the time, sort of the forerunner to music videos. Nowadays it's no big deal to bring one up on YouTube, but in those days getting those film and seeing them was a unique experience...in one's own home.

This how I got to be introduced as a kid to artists who became the basis of my tastes in music and entertainment. Watching these films, in addition to seeing some of the same folks on TV and hearing my parents tell stories of seeing them live "back in the day", was a great experience.  Of course, I had some favorites : The Delta Rhythm Boys singing "Dry Bones", Louis Armstrong singing "Shine", Cab Calloway doing "Minnie The Moocher" and Willy Howard doing the comic routine (with the double talk king, Al Kelly) "Come the Revolution". But a big favorite was seeing the King Cole Trio, with Ida James, doing "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby". At the time I knew of Nat King Cole because he was big and even had some TV shows, but I didn't know about his work before going solo. I also loved Fats Waller doing "Your Feet's Too Big" and Maurice Rocco's "Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar" which had a dancer whom I got to know in my adult years...the great Mable Lee, who's still going at 92!

My interest in performance and particularly the history of African Americans in performance began in The Bronx watching those films.  Little did I know at the time that I would eventually meet and work with some of those people who entertained me. Below are the King Cole Trio, Fats Waller and Maurice Rocco soundies I mentioned...thanks to YouTube!

I went through all of 2015 without posting in this blog.  Hope to do better this year!

Peace, Hank