PASADENA, Calif. — His was the kind of music that could get the fingers snapping and toes tapping or touch your soul with a few strains of his velvety voice.
But while Nat King Cole’s musical legacy still looms large, Rachael Worby feels Los Angeles doesn’t get recognized for the deep impact it’s had on the world through the music produced here. And Cole, she said, played a huge part in that.
“If it weren’t for Nat King Cole, there wouldn’t be the Capital Records as we know it today.”
She’s not speaking about the iconic round tower in Hollywood, but more importantly of what’s gone on inside of it.
“All of the artists whose careers have been made in that building,” she explained, “and that building stands for a recording studio which was raised up by one voice — the voice of Nat King Cole.”
Which is why she calls her latest concert "The House That Nat Built." Worby is the founder, conductor and artistic director of MUSE/IQUE. The current season is called LA Composed, A Festival of Los Angeles Music, so devoting a whole show to Cole was a must. And so, she said, was asking Joshua Henry to be a part of it.
“I mean, I grew up listening to his songs,” Henry said during a break at their final rehearsal. “Songs like 'Nature Boy' and 'Unforgettable.'”
While he’s always found the singer inspirational, it wasn’t until Henry was cast in "Shuffle Along on Broadway" — a show that Cole himself toured in in the 1930s — that he learned about his role as an activist.
“He lived boldly in his art and his music and that’s incredible,” he explained. “He brought white women on the show and performed with them. People were like ‘Oh, are you kidding me? You can’t do this.’ And he confidently strode in territories that many people didn’t.”
If the music wasn’t enough, the concert also features dancers from the Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Washington founded the company more than 40 years ago and remembers listening to Nat King Cole when she was growing up, especially the Christmas songs.
She also remembers Cole as a performer who broke down barriers but said while things have changed since Cole’s day, they haven’t changed nearly enough.
“Nat King Cole, in the era he came up in, he faced a lot of harsh barriers,” she said, “and we’re facing barriers but they are barriers of a different type.”
One in particular, she said, is access to the arts. Art can have a transformative effect but only if people get to see it and understand how they can participate in it and unfortunately, not everyone has that opportunity.
“Where you get to come to a lovely park and have a huge picnic, or food and drink and listen to beautiful music,” she said, describing the settings for MUSE/IQUE’s Summer Series at The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens and the Skirball Cultural Center. “We don’t always have that in every community. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Worby is also a firm believes in the power of art. MUSE/IQUE is a nonprofit arts organization and part of their founding mission is to make live music experiences accessible to all, because, as their vision states, “All human beings deserve the opportunity to have their imaginations and understanding expanded through active engagement with inspired live music.”
“I always hope audiences will leave the concert…enlivened and motivated to change their thinking and therefore change the world around them,” Worby explained.
She acknowledged that may sound like a tall order, but said she whole-heartedly believes it’s possible.
“Live art has the power to change people, to help them emerge and grow and reassess their worlds,” she said.
And if they can do it with a newfound swing in their step, all the better.
MUSE/IQUE’S “The House That Nat Built” will be presented on September 22 & 23 at The Huntington and September 26 at The Skirball.
