We're currently on year 1946 with the song that has been massacred by so many high school vocal jazz groups - Route 66. This Nat King Cole is the original version and the song was written for him by Bobby Troup who got the inspiration for the song while - surprise - driving Route 66. The song was pretty popular as it captured the 'great American road trip' and ended up being covered by a bunch of other groups, including The Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode (??) and Chuck Berry.
It turns out that Nat King Cole started out as a pianist in a combo and played shows around the country. As luck would have it, his singing voice was smooth like butter and he gained more and more popularity, but unfortunately he encountered a shit-ton of racism. He moved into an all-white neighbourhood in LA and because the Klan was still an active organization in the area, Cole would wake up to burning crosses on his front lawn. During one show in the deep south, 4 men rushed the stage to attack Cole and the band, knocking him over and injuring his back. Cole understandible never played the south again. Unfortunately for lovers of good singing he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given months to live. Cole didn't slow down his performing and adulterating and passed in 1965 at age 45.
Go Holly Go:
(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 (The Nat King Cole Trio): I’ve always liked this song, and this relaxed version is great. Nat King Cole has a smooth, kind of treble-y voice (see Kelly’s part of the blog for a better description!), and like so many of the songs we’ve heard so far, there’s a great sounding trumpet playing off of his voice! I have to admit, I didn’t know that the Nat King Cole Trio was the original version, and I was way more familiar with the Chuck Berry version, among a whole bunch of others. I like this song, and this version’s pretty good. 3.5/5
Kelly:
I, like my sister, was unaware that this was the original version, but I'm more familiar with the Stones version and the version we butchered in high school vocal jazz (doo BAH doo WEE doo BAP). And as far as Nat King Cole is concerned I'm much more familiar with songs like Smile and Unforgettable, but this song shows how smooth his voice really is - like a tenor version of Lou Rawls (oh man, that would have been amazing if they had sung together!). I really like this version because it's pretty simple, some great piano playing and some pitch perfect muted trumpet as well. Sometimes you shouldn't mess with a song when the original sounds so great, and I'm inclined to think that for this version of this song. 4/5
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