Quartet tackles Cole’s ‘unforgettable’ catalog

And tunes associated with Nat King Cole, a popular balladeer and jazz artist in the mid-20th century, will be presented at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7 at the Bosque Center.

That concert will have a quartet with vocalist-pianist John Proulx, guitarist Michael Anthony, drummer Cal Haines and bassist Colin Deuble.

“My grandfather was a jazz guitarist so I grew up listening to a lot of Nat King Cole music. I heard a lot of Cole recordings as a child – ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right,’ ‘Paper Moon,’ ‘Mona Lisa,’ ” Proulx said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “…This music is part of my history.”

	John Proulx- Michael Anthony Quartet WHEN: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 7 WHERE: The Bosque Center of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, 6400 Coors NW HOW MUCH: $22 in advance at brownpapertickets.com or $25 at the door

He said an example of the resurgence of nostalgia is a new television show that’s set in Las Vegas, Nev., and spotlights the Rat Pack. The Rat Pack, which included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., appeared together on stage and in film.

And, with current popular singers Diana Krall and Michael Bublé still singing standards from that era, Proulx said, “it’s opening doors for lesser-known artists like myself to do this kind of music.”

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in Birmingham, Ala., in 1919. In the late 1930s, he played piano as the leader of a jazz trio in Southern California. Boosting his career were appearances on radio shows.

With his rich baritone voice, Cole soon became a popular singer of ballads that were hits as singles and albums. His popularity endured until his death from lung cancer in 1965.

Albuquerque guitarist Anthony remembers listening to Cole on the radio as a youngster.

“I used to pick up tunes and try to figure them out on a chromatic harmonica, my musical instrument for a few years,” he said.