This morning I watched this documentary on Nat King Cole and was deeply moved.

https://www.sbs.com.au/movies/video/298014787867/Nat-King-Cole-Afraid-Of-The-Dark

When I was a boy around the age of ten or so. I really had no concept of race. My parents were not prejudice. We lived in Harrisburg, Pa. it was an all white neighborhood. Nat King Cole had a TV show in 1956 and 1957. I watched the show and it never dawned on me the significance that a black man had a TV show.

I just watched the show and thought that Nat King Cole had the best voice I had ever heard. The show was cancelled after 60 weeks even with the highest TV ratings. And the fact that guests like Tony Bennett and Sinatra played for free. It was cancelled because the southern states refused to put the show on TV.

The documentary reinforced my opinion about Nat and it was also felt by many of the giants of music. He was a great jazz piano player. His trio was also one of the first to ever incorporate electric guitar. When you watched Nat play piano and sing. It was like he could play piano with zero thought. His fingers just worked on their own. He would sing and be looking sideways at the camera while playing piano. He would never even look at the keys.

He was am amazing talent who had an incredible impact on music and black history.