Gourse's life of satin-voiced Nat King Cole has plenty of spring and grit, much more so than his Louis's Children: American Jazz Singers (1984). The tragedy of Cole's life (1917-65) lay in his very success as a singer of such lightly mystical pop ballads as ``Nature Boy,'' ``Mona Lisa,'' and even the title ballad here, ``Unforgettable,'' now turning up as a hypnotic come-on for a perfume ad on TV. Before his vocalizing hit big in the mid-40's (today his voice trails behind only Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong in airplay), Cole was a pianist vastly respected in the jazz world as the sparkling rhythmic motor of The Nat King Cole Trio. He was always canny about money, and his sudden adulation as the world's top black singer, which made him a millionaire at 30, was too strong to turn down. At his death, from lung cancer, he had 175 unreleased tracks in inventory at Capitol Records, which the company was reluctant to release—because they were too trite. It is still a tragedy that Cole's vocalizing has replaced the 300 or so jazz tracks his trio cut from the late 30's to 1946. Cole was a minister's son, and something spiritual infused his balladry. He was beyond scandal, even when he left his first wife Nadine for the mesmerically influential Maria Ellington (no relation to Duke), although his tax troubles with the IRS tracked some ink. It appears that the IRS- -more interested in Cole having sneaked into a fine house in a fine white neighborhood than in the $150,000 he owed—watched the house rather than attach his royalties from Capitol Records. Cole later had bleeding ulcers from his anxieties. From a rural Alabama childhood to life at the top, with Sinatra as his pallbearer. The early jazz pages are magnetic, and Cole practically sits in the reader's lap throughout. And it's well researched, too.
Pub Date: June 24, 1991
ISBN: 0-312-05982-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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