People forget what an innovative and swinging jazz pianist Nat was. What a treat to have had such hot jazz on tap on regular TV!

Wow, what's not to love about June Christy, Nat Cole and Mel Torme together in a live performance!!

Awesome performance that reminds us how easily the pros could sing, without close in mikes and exaggerated hand gestures and without straining. Nat Cole was a heck of a piano player and Mel Torme was a fine drummer. Great!

To quote a comment herein of a few months ago, June Christy was in the same league as Torme and Cole, for sure. She had trouble in the intro because Torme and Nat King Cole, marvelous artists, began by "playing with each other and therefore, June couldn't find where to come in. She was enormously talented. Having ALL of her CDs, I can tell you that her range is greater than most singers and, definitely is comfortable singing ballads, swing, and upbeat tunes, in general. Without question, you can hear what I'm telling you if you listen to her sing with only Kenton backing her on piano on the album entitled "Duet." I think the definitive comment on this piece, and I am a huge Torme and Cole fan, is "How lucky Nat King Cole and Mel Torme are to back up June Christy." I was backstage at Kenton's Festival of Modern American Jazz in Denver in 1954. Only he and I were backstage as Candido performed. He said he was worried because June was late and she arrived immediately after his comment. She was beautiful, smiled and said hello to me like she knew me. She was so pleasant, I melted. Following her performance, she drew louder applause than Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, or other solosists (Charlie Parker didn't show, not surprisingly). The Kenton band, incidently, was in top form.

Can you guys believe they did this live for real on national TV? What talent!

Loved June all my life having discovered her way back with Stan Kenton. What a beautiful and talented entertainer she was. Hope you agree! March, 2023.

Look at how excited nat and mel were. They ran to their respective instruments as if they cant wait to get started.

June Christy epitomizes the early fifties "cool jazz chick". Wow!

June Christy thrills --- Nat Cole kills ----

June Christy has always been a favorite of mine for a long time...her voice is so arresting! Nat's piano playing was legendary before he took to the vocals (my mother loved his playing so much, she resented his singing!) BTW: Listen to Freddie Cole (Nat's brother)...you will not be disappointed!

Can you imagine singing, with Nat King Cole and Mel Torme backing you up?

She is so talented wow

Oh baby. Torme on drums, Nat on piano. Unstoppable.

Best female singer of Jazz. Lovely singer

Nat King Cole must be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, bar none.

Let's not overlook June Christy's vocals here. Her momentary lyric mixup just proves it was live television. Nice work, all three!

Love June .... Once , at my birthday party .... my mother asked me to make a wish before blowing out the candles ... my secret wish was .... That June was my mother. I use to sing all her songs in high school .... love her rendition of "That's All."

I did not know Mel Torme played the drums! WOW!

How great is this ? Torme , Christy, King Cole. And the fact that Torme and King Cole were not only great singers but musicians as well.

Good Lord -- what a marvelous assemblage of talent. Miss Christy melts my heart.

Mel is my hero. He's the best male scat singer, he absolutely rocks on the drums, his vocal arrangements for groups take the cake AND he wrote Chestnuts Roasting!

He may be immortalized as one of the best vocalists of American Popular song to ever live, but Nathaniel Adams Coles (Nat "King" Cole) was a marvelous pianist. Once he crossed over into the mainstream, the spotlight was on his piano playing far too infrequently. It is a great pleasure to see him accompany the invariably enjoyable June Christy here along with Mel Tormé on drums.

What a special thing to have on tape. the Great June Christy with Nat King Cole and Mel Torme. Wow.

Mel,Nat and June together! Wow almost too good to be true!

The Misty Miss Christy, Nat, Mel and a great guitar and bass. How much better can it get. June also was great with Stan Kenton's band.

Now, that´s what you call a true artist. Such a simplicity no tricks, glamours, etc, Just June and her music.Total in comand of her voice doing all sorts of effects provinding us with the best os the cool jazz era. And that´s is the meaning of I Want to Be Happy. For sure we are June. Thanks to you

There's a lot a talent on that stage and you know they were genuinely having fun.

What a great treat Nat King Cole trio along with June Christy and Mel Torme. Thank God of technology.

Very fine drumming by Mel showing off his Buddy Rich licks.Tremendous talent all round, the like of which we will never see again.

She may bve singing, but the break in in the middle really showcases nat's absolute mastery at the piano.

What a marvelous sense of humor Nat Cole had with his intro at 1:04, and trying his intro again at 1:54, of two Civil War hymn melodies. The Revolution took place anyway. Love this vid.

0:20 the way MEL skipped to the drum set, 1:07 The dexterity and fluidity of NATS genius piano skills, 1:43 Rambunctious drum solo by MEL 2:20 The husky cry of JUNES singing voice. THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF JAZZ AT ITS MOST PLAYFUL AND EXPRESSIVE NATURE.

Yeah. And back then viewers took fantastic TV shows such as the Nat King Cole Show for granted. But at least someone recorded it and we can watch it now.

I always wondered why Oscar Peterson, loved Nat's piano playing so much, and i've heard Nat play before, but not like this! and now i hear Nat's style of playing in the sounds of Oscar Peterson. Everybody incredible!

One of my favs, for sure!!

Wow, the trio of spectaculars, all together ! Nat " King " Cole, The Velvet Fog Mel Torme ` , and The Misty Miss June Christy !

Great Juney!! Just great! The song is kind of a hard one to sing, actually, and she is singing just like having a pleasant talk! She is the 1st reason for my fondness of 1950s!

Gotta love JUNE!

Being backed up by Piano Jazz Great and voice of crystal, Nat Cole along with the singing frog, on Drums. What a session to sit in on.

I love this... Amazing...

This kind of programming was on the tube every week, nearly every night when there were only 3 networks. You can't find it in 6 mos. of 100 channels today.

What a treat. I forgot June had such a vibrato. I usually don't like but from her it is great.

what a fab performance by June. she's really swinging here, and listening to her sing this tune makes me feel great.

Winners of the Metronome All-Stars poll for best male and female vocal positions, Nat King Cole & June Christy recorded the extremely rare Columbia Records 78 rpm, "Nat Meets June," their only record together, this duet is more blues than jazz, making this a rare performance of 2 west coast jazz titans indeed. Capitol Records was probably more than pissed at having 2 of their top acts recording a hot single for a rival label, but Columbia had the winners poll contract with Metronome.

Wonderful singer and band!

Essa June Christy foi simplesmente vocalista da Orquestra de Stan Kenton . Maravilhosa . Vídeo sensacional esse dela com o Quarteto de Nat King Cole.

Love these classic artists. And one day while watching garage squad, I couldn't help but notice a slight resemblance between Heather storm and June Christy, both very attractive women.

Luv June Christy!!

Nat my high school fav and of course the love of Julie Christi ..The crush I had and when she sang the sultry voice only added to her allure + pretty girl! p.s.. did not know Mel Torme played drums.. Did see Torme in Atlanta at an outdoor spring concert years ago. Wine served on silver trays.. Piedmont Park.

i love this girl !!!!!!!!

A priceless moment in the history of Jazz. Gracias.

I loved playing this song for Jazz band in high school :)

Three tremendous talents together....great video.

What a band, and I love June's singing.

wow what a room, filled with the greats. what happened to this kind of television

I first fell in love with her voice, now that I can see her i terribly regret not having been born before to see her singing live.

june mel and nat are just great br

WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From a mad keen 73yo Aussie fan. Three genuine musical superstars & others---What a blast...

a joy ... the pleasure of singin' and playing

Talent overload!

Love the Trio

Typically witty, relaxed, fiercely-swinging solo from the great Cole, nice work from Torme in the chases, and a swiftly, neatly torn off vocal from the best singer to come out of the Kenton outfit whose name wasn't Anita O'Day. Ella of course would make this one of her signature tunes but June Christy, who did indeed help bring it to prominence, more than holds her own with it, and with the illustrious company. Smashing video.

Sheikh is right. Mel and Nat run to the instruments like boys going back to their first loves: the drum kit and the piano. They trust and like June enough to let her take the mic, so they can merge into their original instruments, where they spent many hours practicing their original craft. It's like they're letting another captain take the helm of the ship, so they can better enjoy their craft work positions, and not having to worry about driving. What a fun clip. Thanks for posting!

we live in a barbarous age. nobody performs like this now.

Nat was such a great piano player, love watching this they're all great

Oh, my my!

Fabulous (Didn't know Mel Tormé could drum).

So wonderful to see !

Brilliant performance from people who we Will never see or hear again Ever Period!!!!!

Mel Torme never ceases to amaze me. I mean that's Nat King Cole he's backing (very competently).. one of the greatest and most influential piano stylists of all time

Excellent!

I think this is my favorite version of this song! I love her voice and the pace they use.

This was very impromtu, and gee, these folks are professional and having some fun! Yeah, Mel could play drums and arrange he hell out of vocals, especially for trios and quartets! Ask me about Mel, I worked with him and he was a hard task master, and great human being and fun to work with! Why are folk so darned critical? Enjoy the music by some great folk who are no longer with us!

oh boy, this takes me back

June really had to race! Great stuff!

A remarkable visual treat! all in the one clip!!!

That is some ferocious piano playing!

Fantastic players (all 3 are certified star singers in their own right) in a wonderful performance.

That was wonderful! Never knew Mel Torme was an accomplished drummer.

Perfection. Three incredible people

Very pretty and talented woman.

june mel and nat are just great

My America!

Three brilliant singers with multi talents .What a treat!!

Nat king cole is amzing singer and pionist he is my all time fawortie

This video reminds us what a great pianist Nat was, and what a swinger Mel was on the trap set- killer stuff, man!!! Oh, and the most unsung guitar hero- Oscar Moore!!! WOWSA!!!!

RIP DAD

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!! Dang! This is music & REAL talent!!!!

I always thought that Nat's early and signature piano style was very Roaring 20s ish! I think that that's what gives Nat's piano playing style its pizzazz, glare and exitement! Nat King Cole and many of his swinging contemporaries were the long shadow that the Roaring 20s cast.

One of my all-time favorite clips!

WOW!!! 3 amazing musicians!

So moving!

NAT was such a great piano player..

You are right there!

This is so very, very cool. I'm so glad I'm discovering this great stuff. Oh, man.

아 이 자연스러움 재즈! 여가수 목소리 떨림이 너무 매력적이에요

just wonderful! Her style inspires me.

Well this is a bit of a treasure, isn't it? Cole is somewhat forgotten as a great pianist, before his success as a vocalist; Torme is all-but-forgotten as a drummer (ditto)... Christie is remembered mostly for "The Midnight Sun" (a great recording)... This is a gem.

yooo what a collab

SI NAT "KING" COLE FUE UN GRAN CANTANTE,MÁS GRANDE LO FUE COMO PIANISTA.