Arts & Entertainment

Take Your Valentine to Freddy Cole's Jazz Concert in Roswell, Friday

"Roswell Presents Friday Nights Live!" welcomes Freddy Cole to the Roswell Cultural Arts Center on Friday, Feb. 15.

Looking for a special way to spend the evening with your Valentine? The Roswell Cultural Arts Center has just the place for you to enjoy an evening of sweet harmony and smooth jazz beats offered up by Freddy Cole and his quartet on Friday, Feb. 15.    

Cole, most notably recognized as legend Nat “King” Cole’s little brother, started playing piano at five or six years old. As a teenager, he began playing and singing in Chicago clubs and was ready to hit the road at eighteen. His mother intervened and he continued his musical education at the Roosevelt Institute in Chicago, then moved to New York in 1951, where he studied at the Juilliard School of Music. He got a Master's degree at the New England Conservatory of Music and then spent several months on the road as a member of an Earl Bostic band that also included Johnny Coles and Benny Golson.

Cole has been a resident of Atlanta since 1972, and he and his quartet tour the US, Europe, the Far East and South America. Freddy has been a recording artist since 1952, when his first single, "The Joke's on Me," was released on an obscure Chicago-based label.

Cole doesn't apologize for sounding like his brother, Nat "King" Cole and acknowledges that there are certain similarities. He plays piano and sings and performs live with guitar and upright bass, just like Nat. Yet many believe that his voice is raspier, smokier, jazzier even and say that his phrasing is closer to that of Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday than that of his brother. His vocals are considered suave, elegant, formidable and articulate and are among the most respected in jazz.

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“We’re thrilled to offer such a high caliber of jazz entertainment in this very intimate environment,” said G. Morgan Timmis, Historic & Cultural Affairs manager for the city of Roswell. “It has been a pleasure to partner with The Atlanta Jazz Preservation Society to bring this incredibly talented group right here to Roswell.”

The first 50 ladies through the door will receive a red rose, and there will be additional drawings for you and yours throughout the evening, including a pair of tickets to the next Roswell Presents Friday Night’s Live! Series, The Second City Comedy Touring Production on May 24.  Reserved seats can be purchased for $27 in advance at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center box office or online at www.roswellpresents.com.

Find out what's happening in Roswellwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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