March 19th 2014

Location: North Sea Jazz Club, Amsterdam

 

Masterful vocalist and pianist, Freddy Cole captivates listeners with his elegant presence, subtle phrasing, and intimate singing style is ageless. 

 

Short bio

Lionel Frederick Cole, born October 15, 1931 in Chicago, was the fifth child to bless the harmonious household of Edward and Pelina Cole. By the age of five, under the benevolent guidance of his father, and his musically inclined mother, he started to play the family piano. Freddy turns out to be a natural musician, and athlete with professional aspirations. However, a sports injury end his budding football career. But he decided to pursue music, issuing his first recording, "The Joke's On Me," in 1952. During his formative years in New York, Freddy listened closely to the way horn players formed phrases in their solos and cultivated a sparse, swinging vocal style that would become his signature.

 

It's Unforgettable

Freddy Cole his music brings you wherever you want to be while listening to his voice. It feels like a special serenade for you only. Actually it didn't take more than a few notes on the keyboard before he had firmly established unstoppable swing rhythm, notwithstanding a moderate tempo. More important, he reminded us listeners that there's more to delivering a ballad than singing softly and slowly: He also told a story, delivering its verbal twists and turns with relish. Once he began to sing, the man's appeal was assured.  One thing is clear, it takes a lifetime, to learn to make a lyric sound as colloquial as speech, yet as musical as an instrumental solo. Freddy Cole unique in mastering the art.

 

It just takes a few notes on the keyboard before he firmly established unstoppable swing rhythm, notwithstanding a moderate tempo. His outstanding band members; smooth guitarist Randy Napoleon, dynamic bass player Elias Bailey and the Brazilian drummer Curtis Boyd, whom switch from rhythm and tempo looks so easily when you look at Curtis, who change from beat and sticks in a wink of a eye. The band members just give the soft smooth jazzy subtle interaction with Freddy Cole. Smoothly swinging. Actually it is a like a poetry in motion all the way. He is telling stories through music and, reaching people with his exuberant warmth and inexorable talent. This authentic, romantic sound of  how Cole pronouncing the words and the timing is significant for Cole. You see him, but your so attracted to the words he is singing while the backbeat from Curtis Boyd just give that special smooth rhythm. The same is happening when Cole touch the keys of the piano your touched every single note he plays. He showed an instrumental subtlety and finesse of his own.

 

Thank you Freddy Cole for your big smile and warmhearted welcome and your lovely management in the USA for this great opportunity given.

Fun to see that two old friends 'from the same neighborhood', Freddy and Gaynal Hodge could share their wonderful memories. All I can say is: 'It's Unforgettable'.