Straighten Up and Fly Right The Life and Music of Nat King Cole

Will Friedwald writes about music and popular culture for The Wall Street Journal as well as for magazines such as Vanity Fair. He is also the associate producer and writer of Michael Feinstein's Jazz and Popular Song Series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has produced shows for Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, The Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, 54 Below, Urban Stages, The Friars Club, and elsewhere.

Forward by John Pizzarelli

Intro: "Of Falling Blossoms and Paper Moons"
Prelude: Paris, 1930

Origin Story (1919-1937)

Act One: The King Cole Trio

1. The Birth of the Trio (1937-1943)
2. Rise of the Trio (1943-1946)
3. Interlude: Nat and Norman: The "Jam Sessions" (1942-1946)
4. Expanding the Canvas (1946-1947)
5. Entr'acte: Trio to Quartet to Solo (1948-1951)

Act Two: Nat King Cole

6. Nat and Nelson: "Mona Lisa" to Two in Love (1950-1954)
7. Assault on a King (1955-1956)
8. Years of Stardust (1956-1959)
9. "The Ends of the Earth" (1960-1962)
10. Requiem for a King (1962-1964)

Postscript: The Afterlife (1965 and Beyond)