1957 · Album
Love Is the Thing
Recorded 1956–1957 · Capitol · Produced by Lee Gillette
When a Singer Knows Exactly What He Is
Cole's voice here is pure instrument—warm, controlled, and completely at ease with itself.
By the time Nat King Cole recorded Love Is the Thing (1957), he'd already spent years proving he could do almost anything: swing hard, croon softly, even act in movies. Love Is the Thing is him settling into who he actually was—a ballad singer of remarkable restraint. There's no flash here, no attempt to prove range. Just a man with one of the most recognizable voices in American music choosing material that lets him breathe.
The album's centerpiece is a lush orchestral sound arranged around Cole's voice. Unlike some of his earlier work where the arrangements could feel busy, these settings are almost spare—they give him room. Songs like "Unforgettable" and "Night and Day" were already standards, but Cole doesn't try to reinvent them. He inhabits them. The orchestra, arranged by Nelson Riddle, sits back and lets Cole be the primary color. This is a record about clarity and presence, about a singer confident enough not to oversell anything.
This sits squarely in Cole's mature period—not his beginning, not his end, but a peak of sorts. It's the sound of someone who'd found his lane and stopped worrying about leaving it. The album's been reissued constantly for a reason: it doesn't ask much of the listener, but it gives a lot. If you want to understand why Nat King Cole mattered, and you're not sure where to start, this is actually a good place. It's not his most adventurous work, but it might be his most essential.
Who's playing
Charles LaVerepiano
