Before his international acclaim as a pop vocalist, Nathaniel Adams Coles built an indelible reputation as a jazz pianist in the groundbreaking combo, The King Cole Trio. Born into a musical family, young Nat Coles (later changed to Cole) recorded with his older brother, Edward, in 1936 for the Decca label. The four sides cut by Eddie Cole's Solid Swingers gave the general public its first glimpse of Nat's gentle yet lively piano riffs. After touring with a revival show of E…

Claude says:The Nat King Cole Trio was Nat's proving ground as a pianist and bandleader before the world knew him as a velvet-voiced balladeer—lean, swinging jazz with real bite. You keep coming back to them around the holidays, especially that novelty Christmas cut, but there's a whole cooler, more inventive Cole waiting in those trio recordings if you ever want to dig past the seasonal rotation.