116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Nat King Cole
Hitmaker brought his music to Iowa from 1942 to 1963
Diane Fannon-Langton
Nov. 30, 2023 2:11 pm, Updated: Nov. 30, 2023 2:38 pm
What could put anyone in the holiday mood more quickly than the warm voice of Nat King Cole singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”?
“The Christmas Song,” written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells and recorded by Cole, became an immediate favorite after it was released in 1946.
The women of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church (now Christ Episcopal) sponsored Cole’s appearance on Nov. 19, 1963. The benefit show at the Iowa Theater, with 1,700 seats, sold out far in advance.
A standing-room-only crowd listened to Cole sing and play piano, with The Gazette reviewer saying, “Cole is a beautiful singer of our ballads, with a fine band and a good chorus.” He expressed regret that Cole didn’t play more piano.
During the event, Cole was presented with an honorary membership in the Cedar Rapids Twin Club in recognition of Cole’s twin daughters, Timolin and Casey, born in September 1961.
Cole was paid $5,000 — about $50,000 in today’s dollars — for the performance.
2 weeks in C.R. in 1942
It wasn’t the first time Cole had been in Cedar Rapids.
The late Cecil Reed — a successful Black entrepreneur, former state legislator, entertainer and Cedar Rapids native, recalled in 2002 how he would find acts for the Foxhead Tavern, a popular night spot at 114 First St. SE, opposite the old federal building and post office that now houses Cedar Rapids City Hall.
He discovered a trio with a young jazz pianist working at a bar in Chicago and suggested that Berle Adams, a talent booking agent, take on the King Cole Trio as clients. Adams did and kept the job until Cole died in 1965.
In 1942, the King Cole Trio, billed as “sensational Decca recording artists from Kelley’s Stables, New York City,” came for a two-week gig at the Foxhead when it was operated by Tom Ferris, who also was known for sponsoring Golden Gloves tournaments.
One person who remembered seeing Cole perform was Mildred O’Bannon, who worked at the Foxhead.
“Nobody had heard of Nat King Cole then, but soon after he left Cedar Rapids, his career just zoomed ahead,” she told a reporter in 1971. “Everybody loved him here.
“One little thing I remember about him is that he just loved hard-boiled eggs. Between performances, he’d ask me to slip back to the kitchen and bring him an egg.”
When asked in 1973 about booking Cole at the Foxhead, Ferris said, “He and his group appeared at the Foxhead two different times. As I recall, I paid Nat King Cole $250 a week, as he was just getting started — and that was for the whole trio, not just his share.”
Because they were Black, the trio could not get a room in any of the Cedar Rapids hotels and had to stay in private homes, according to the late Black historian Virgil Powell.
After Cole’s 1942 performance, The Gazette’s music critic, Les Zacheis, wrote a story about him for a jazz magazine.
Memorial Coliseum in ’47
The trio returned in September 1947 to perform for a crowd of 1,600 at the Memorial Coliseum.
“Some shows run a dozen people on the stage, wear themselves and the audience to a nervous frazzle trying to put the thing over,” The Gazette reviewer said.
“Then along comes this threesome with an ease and informality you’d think better adapted to a private party than the coliseum. And just like that, they have everyone right in the palm of Nat Cole’s hand.”
Iowa City in 1949
In November 1949, the King Cole Trio shared a program with band leader, jazz clarinetist/saxophonist and singer Woody Herman for two concerts at the University of Iowa’s Memorial Union in Iowa City.
The trio was singer/pianist Cole, guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Johnny Miller. Cole began performing as a solo artist backed by an orchestra in the 1950s.
Back to C.R. in ’63
Cole was touring with his own variety show, “Sights and Sounds ’63,” when he returned to Cedar Rapids’ Memorial Coliseum in 1963. Cole was accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra led by Joey Zito and his “Merry Young Souls” vocal group. The show included comedian Pete Barbutti.
Cole sang his bestsellers and also teamed with the vocal group to sing spirituals. He also sang “Nobody Knows” a cappella.
A “respiratory ailment” hit Cole in the fall of 1964. It was later diagnosed as lung cancer, and in January 1965, Cole had a tumor removed from a lung. A heavy smoker, Cole didn’t recover and died Feb. 15 at age 45.
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