With Respect to Nat...

This group pays homage to the great singer and pianist Nat "King" Cole and takes its name from an album of Oscar Peterson's that also paid tribute to him after Nat's untimely passing. The repertoire has expanded to include music by Oscar, Duke Ellington Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and Gregory Porter, with the aim of entertaining a broad mixed audience, while staying authentic to music in the jazz lineage.  

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Like many good things, this project grew out of friendship. ​

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Guitarist Adrian Balletto and bassist Jim Rintoul were neighbours and musical colleagues and, after a few gigs and jam sessions, they decided to form a trio with Tom. This was once the classic trio format favoured by Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal and even a certain Ray Charles. As tastes changed all would go on to add or substitute in a drummer, not to mention a whole orchestra as their music brought commercial success, but the essential charm and neatness of that original trio is for many a perfect moment in time that bears some re-exploration.  Without drums the "swing" inherent to all good jazz is the responsibility of the guitar and bass, and to that extent this music shares some of the aesthetics of "gypsy jazz", where again, the traditional absence of drums ironically makes "swing" the quintessential goal of the ensemble - often with more success than the later, louder versions of jazz!  

 

The trio played a few gigs before the 2020-21 arts lockdown, with all three members featuring occasionally on vocals and covering many of Nat King Cole's hits.  Then in 2022 they added Marvin Muoneké, an acclaimed vocalist based in Weston-super-Mare who, as it turns out, admired and studied Nat's work deeply in his formative years. Marvin's incredible sonorous voice and passionate delivery captivate crowds and pull people in, whether they thought they liked jazz or not; his is a real rare talent. Marvin is incredibly busy with his solo and big band projects but still makes time for this project several times a year.

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In 2024 Jim left for a sabbatical in Japan and thus the wonderful Kev Sanders joined on bass. 

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Meet the band and view our demo videos below. We are in the process of organising an Autumn 2024 tour and re-recording our demo with Marvin and Kev.