Gregory Porter - Nat "King" Cole & Me (Deluxe) (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Deluxe album with 3 additional tracks and a 32 page hardcover booklet ‘Nat King Cole & Me’, from Grammy-winning singing sensation Gregory Porter – one of the most successful jazz artists of his generation. It is a deeply personal tribute to Nat King Cole – the legendary crooner who ignited Gregory’s love of music. “It’s only natural that I go to the root of my inspiration and where I come from. And that root would be my mother and gospel music and Nat King Cole,” he says.

Recorded at London’s AIR Studios, the 12-track album features some of Gregory’s favourite Nat King Cole tunes including ‘Smile’, ‘L-O-V-E’ and ‘Nature Boy’. There is also a Nat-inspired arrangement of Gregory’s own song ‘When Love Was King’, originally released on his million-selling hit album, ‘Liquid Spirit’.

For Gregory Porter, the influence of Nat King Cole on his life and music runs deep, a through-line that reaches back into some of his earliest childhood memories, and culminates in the release of his new album ‘Nat King Cole & Me’.

Tracklist:
1. Mona Lisa (Ray Evans/Jay Livingston)
2. Smile (Charlie Chaplin/John Turner/Geoffrey Parsons)
3. Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez)
4. L-O-V-E (Milt Gabler/Bert Kaempfert)
5. Quizas, Quizas, Quizas (Farres Osvaldo)
6. Miss Otis Regrets (Cole Porter)
7. Pick Yourself Up (Jerome Kern/ Dorothy Fields)
8. When Love Was King (Gregory Porter)
9. The Lonely One (Lenny Hambro/ Roberto Heller)
10. Ballerina (Carl Sigman/ Bob Russell)
11. I Wonder Who My Daddy Is (Gladys Shelley)
12. But Beautiful** (Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen)
13. Sweet Lorraine** (Cliff Burwell/Mitchell Parish)
14. For All We Know** (J. Fred Coots/Sam M. Lewis)
15. The Christmas Song (Mel Tormé/Robert Wells)

**only available on deluxe edition