Vaya con Dios (May God Be With You)

When Nat King Cole embarked on the recording of More Cole Español in 1962, he already had a history of exploring music in Spanish. This album, arranged by Ralph Carmichael and recorded in Mexico City, represented his third and final foray into this repertoire, following the footsteps of Cole Español (1958) and A Mis Amigos (1959). While it was sometimes noted that Cole did not fully master the language, on this occasion, a greater commitment and enjoyment in the performance could be observed, according to reviews from the time.

The story of Nat King Cole, whose birth name was Nathaniel Adams Coles, began in Montgomery in 1919. His father, Edward Coles, was a butcher and deacon, and the family moved to Chicago when he was a child. There, his father became a minister and his mother, Perlina Adams, was an organist at the church, also serving as Nat’s only piano teacher. In Chicago, he grew up in the Bronzeville neighborhood, a hub of nightlife and jazz clubs in the late 1920s, where he listened to figures like Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. Inspired by Hines, he began his musical career in the mid-1930s, adopting the name Nat Cole. His brother Eddie, a bassist, joined his band for their first recording in 1936. It was in one of those clubs where he earned the nickname "King." Later, after a tour with Eubie Blake that reached Long Beach, California, Nat King Cole decided to settle there. He passed away in Santa Monica in 1965.