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Nat Cole: Rumba a la King


paul secor

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A friend sent me an inquiry which I couldn't help him with, so I thought I'd post it here to see if anyone has any info:

"Has anyone heard of an early Nat Cole LP called Rumba a la King?  

I've found references to it in a few books on Latin music, but no evidence of it in discographies, nor images of an LP cover anywhere online.  There is a Cole song called "Rex Rumba" a/k/a "Rumba a la King," (1946, pre-LP era) but as far as I know, no LP.  My guess is it was a mistake on John Storm Roberts's part in his book The Latin Tinge, which was the earliest reference I found to the LP--and most of the other books in which it's mentioned seem to parrot JSR's discussion as though they lifted it verbatim without checking the facts.  But I could be wrong.  Any ideas?"
 
Thanks for any help anyone here can give on this.
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I have that book, and though I've leafed through it before I never read it cover-to-cover.

The mention of this album occurs on page 112. Roberts says that NKC recorded an album in Cuba with trumpeter Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros. He implies strongly that this was in 1946 (the previous sentence is all about 1946, and so are the next few paragraphs—but he does not explicitly state that the Cole recording was in '46. Some casual searching shows that other sources repeat this claim (The Oxford Companion to Jazz, for instance—I don't know what their source was, though—maybe it was Roberts's book!). If the recording was really in 1946, Armenteros would have been very young (17 or 18), though it's of course not impossible.

In "Latin Jazz: the first of the fusions, 1880s to today", a later (1999) book by Roberts I don't own (but now want...), he gives a little more context on page 68. I can only get a snippet from Google Books, I'm afraid: "And, Nat 'King' Cole recorded an album called Rhumba d la King in Cuba with a group that (according to producer/Latin music scholar Rene Lopez) included the great conjunto trumpeter Armando "Chocolate" Armenteros, one of a generation of Cubans who were remaking the old septeto solo style with strong jazz..."

This obituary of Armenteros in the Colombian paper El Tiempo (https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/CMS-16474657) also mentions his recordings with NKC: "El legendario músico, que tocó con los grandes del son y el jazz, [...], que compartió escenarios y grabaciones con Nat King Cole, Paquito de Rivera, Dizzy Gillespie y Charlie Palmieri, está de nuevo en Colombia." No source given, nor explicit mention of the album, I'm afraid. Various other sources (easily Googlifyable) mention his work with Cole, but place it in 1957 (performing at the Tropicana) and 1958 (recording "Cole Español", which does not contain "Rex Rhumba," nor do the two follow-up Spanish-language albums Cole recorded).

Some other timelines of Armenteros's life don't have him arriving in Havana till 1948, making a recording session with Cole highly unlikely in 1946.

Note that "Rex Rhumba" was released by Capitol as a 78 B side in 1948: https://www.discogs.com/composition/e240e45b-8c84-4128-b8e3-a9f9aea51a6e-Rex-Rhumba It's possible Roberts (or his source) got confused by the 1948 release of the tune, and the 1958 recording of the first Spanish-language LP.

I suggest tracking down a copy of the 1999 Roberts book, and seeing whether he gives a source for the Rene Lopez assertion in a footnote or endnote.

 

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I share the opinion that Roberts mixed up several things. It's a drag that he never cited precise sources in his first two books (I do not have the third) and lists only a general bibliography, so everything he says should be confirmed by other independent sources.

As other have stated above, Cole's LP Cole Español  was recorded in 1958. The orchestral tracks were recorded in Cuba, Cole overdubbed vocals or piano in Los Angeles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Espa%C3%B1ol) - Armenteros could indeed have been in the orchestra, but I wonder where Roberts got that info. 

 

R-1047654-1376608060-5925.jpeg.jpg

If one trusts the Tom Lord Discography, "Rhumba à la King" is an alternative title for "Rex Rhumba" - that may be where Roberts got the title. There are two versions of the tune recorded in March and April 1946, and issued separately (maybe someone owning the Cole Trio Mosaic box can shed a light on this - the Mosaic discography in the box booklet seems to identify the two titles.

R-12798162-1542143942-9031.jpeg.jpg

It's typical for a US release to spell it Rhumba - nobody does so in Cuba!

Edited by mikeweil
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  • 1 month later...

As it turns out I do have the book "Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions" by John Storm Roberts - overlooked it as it was on a different shelf than the other two. The Cole album is mentioned in just one paragraph, without references. But the passage makes clear that he mixed up the 1946 shellac disc with the 1958 LP, in which Chocolate Armenteros may have participated, as Roberts got from "Latin music scholar René Lopez" - without giving a definite source.  

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Mike has cleared up this fascinating little discographical mystery, but it did cause me to get out what I *think* (Jeffcrom will correct me quickly on this, no doubt!) was Cole's "first" 78 album on Capitol, simply titled "Capitol Presents The King Cole Trio" (BD-8). It's a typical four-78 album. No Latin jazz on it. Apparently, there were three more albums, and a tune titled "Rhumba Azul" did appear on volume 3 (also issued on 78). If anyone is interested, here's a view of the original:

 

TheKingColeTrio.jpg

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