Unforgettable, Too : Cole’s Tribute Twice as Vivid in Person

U nforgettable .

It seems like an obvious opening description for Natalie Cole’s concert at the Universal Amphitheatre, but it is more than just the hit song from her new collection of her father’s songs. It describes the very experience of having been at the concert.

What was so impressive on the record, as a romantic and joyful celebration of her father’s music, came across twice as vividly in person Friday night.

Cole left no doubt that this is the music she believes in, and will continue to sing now that she has shown the size of the audience it can attract. This event was sold out well in advance; as one observer commented: “It has attracted people my age, and people like my daughter and my grandson too.”

Opening, as she did in the album, with “The Very Thought of You,” Natalie ran the Nat King Cole gamut from 1943 (“Straighten’ Up and Fly Right”) to 1964 (“L-O-V-E”).

Strikingly attractive in a white gown, she matched her visual charm with a voice that was flawlessly suited to each song: richly romantic on the ballads (“For Sentimental Reasons,” “Tenderly,” “Autumn Leaves”), strongly jazz-oriented on “Route 66” and “Avalon.” She even scatted for a few moments here and there.

The presentation inevitably leaned on memories, but Cole confined her remarks to brief recollections: How Billy Strayhorn brought “Lush Life” to her dad, how Dinah Washington and Etta James shared his success with their own versions of “At Last.”

She also spoke briefly about the King Cole Trio, and for a few tunes was backed by a group not unlike her father’s: George Gaffney on piano, Harold Jones on drums, John Chiodini on guitar, Jim Hughart on bass.

Too often, Cole had the support of an enormous orchestra. Sometimes the dozens of strings, saxes, brass and rhythm, conducted by Charles Floyd, seemed appropriate, but there were passages in “Nature Boy” and a few others where the syrupy strings were a mite too glutenous.

Nothing, however, could lessen the impact of Natalie Cole, who, like her father decades ago, is completely at home in every setting. As her finale, she traded phrases with Nat himself as he was seen in a film clip of “Unforgettable” and in snapshots with his wife and family, including baby Natalie. The standing ovation elicited by this unique duet led to an ingenious medley, one that linked her version of a Nat Cole hit, “Too Young,” with her own hit single, “Inseparable.”

For half an hour before Cole’s set, a small group led by Pete Christlieb on tenor sax, with Conte Candoli on trumpet, played a few boppish tunes that never managed, despite capable performances, to make an impression on a crowd impatient to hear the star.

Cole quite simply established this as a memorable evening. What Linda Ronstadt did well enough as a side venture, Cole has done to perfection on what promises to be her main street from now on.

It is astonishing that the No. 1 jazz album in the country reached No. 1 on the pop charts earlier this month--has anyone but Bobby McFerrin ever achieved that dual victory?--and doubly rewarding that this top slot is owned by someone we can now claim as the No. 1 singer.