Natalie Cole Brings Her Explorations To Sandpoint

Everybody knows that Natalie Cole has been exploring the pop and jazz traditions of her father, Nat King Cole.

But in her recent work she also has explored other artists of the same era: Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Aretha Franklin, to name a few.

It’s not that Natalie has anything against contemporary music - after all, this is a woman who made a mint in Top 40 in the 1970s. It’s just that she likes the pop music of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, and loves to interpret it for audiences of today.

“I like to do songs that were done a long time ago or are kind of obscure,” said Cole in a recent press release. “That way, you can make them your own, by changing a tempo or a total arrangement - as long as you don’t take away what made the song great in the first place. But with something traditional, you have to be really careful and tender in how you approach it.”

This is a delicate balance, and Cole, in the last four years, has nailed it just right. She has given her own interpretation to such songs as “Cry Me A River,” “As Time Goes By,” and “Unforgettable,” without ruining what made those songs great in the first place. Of course, in the case of “Unforgettable,” she included exactly what made it great in the first place: her father’s voice. That song was recorded as a duet, almost 30 years after his death, between Natalie and Nat.

The album was a tremendous hit, winning Grammys in 1992 for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Traditional Pop Performance. If there were a Most Valuable Player award in the Grammys, Natalie Cole would have won that, too.

Her next album, “Take a Look,” continued in the lush orchestral vein, with such classics songs as “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” as well as more obscure tunes from her father’s era such as “Calypso Blues,” and “Take a Look.”

In her most recent concerts she has branched out into an entirely different kind of classic American music: gospel.

The Boston Globe reported that, after her orchestral set, she walked on stage in a choir robe, backed by a local gospel choir, and brought down the house with a three-song finale.

Those fervent gospel songs reflect the direction her life has been going lately. After some well-publicized bouts with alcohol and drugs, she gives God credit for setting her straight.

“I look back on some of the events in my life, and God just put his hands on my shoulders and said, ‘We’ve got to get this one - she’s just lost it. Get in there, angels, and pull her out!”’ Cole told the Associated Press last year.

This gospel choir finale, unfortunately, is only being done in selected cities, and Sandpoint is not one of the selected cities. However, if we’re lucky she’ll do some of those gospel songs, sans choir.

Her set will include the big band pop standards that have propelled her career recently. A 12-piece horn section of local musicians will join the 11 musicians that she will bring with her. The Boston Globe reported that the horn section was “arranged in neat rows behind a white, billowing curtain, through which lush, nightclub lighting was shown.”

A big screen also will be on display, so she can do that “duet” with her father on “Unforgettable.”

The opening act will be Leon Atkinson, the well-known local classical and jazz guitarist.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Natalie Cole Location and time: Memorial Field, tonight, 7:30 Tickets: $38.50 reserved, $30.45 general admission, $15.50 for children under 12