"As the brother of Nat "King" Cole, Freddy Cole is gifted with a voice which phrasing recalls his famous brother, but he does well to escape from further categorization.Completely aside from that, he is a deep-voiced singer of jazz love songs, who embodies a vanishing esthetic: he's one of the few male singers these days who is still at the height of his powers and can be taken seriously.
Lionel Frederick Cole was born on October 15, 1931, the youngest of Edward and Paulina Nancy Cole's five children. His three elder brothers, Eddie, Ike and Nat (twelve years Freddy's senior) were all musicians
"I started playing piano when I was 6 or 7 but I really got into it when I was a teenager, Music was all around me", said Freddy.
In the Chicago home of his youth, visitors included Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton. He also credits Billy Eckstine as a major influence. "He was a fantastic entertainer", Freddy recalls.
"I learned so much from just watching and being around him".
After a possible career with the NFL was shelved due to a hand injury, he began playing and singing in Chicago clubs as a teenager. Although he was ready to hit the road at 18, his mother intervened and he continued his musical education at the Roosevelt Institute in Chicago.
Freddy moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juillard School of Music and found himself profoundly influenced by John Lewis, Oscar Peterson and Teddy Wilson. He got a Master's degree at the New England Conservatory of Music and then spent several months on the road as a member of an Earl Bostic band that also included Johnny Coles and Benny Golson."
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06.10.2008