Freddy Cole Excels, Much Like Nat

Freddy Cole didn’t mention the name of his famous older brother once during his first show Friday at Founders Hall in Costa Mesa. He didn’t have to.

At 65, the younger Cole doesn’t have Nat “King” Cole’s dashing good looks or his fame. What he does have runs deeper than any visible resemblance: an eerie familiarity in tone and delivery.

Cole has a suggestion of his late brother’s rich mahogany tone and shares some of his stylistic marks, including the way his voice will dip an octave when beginning a phrase.

Occasionally, his pacing--both ahead and behind the beat--sounded a bit like Nat’s, and the generally good-natured tone of his delivery carried the same gentle presence. The configuration of his combo with electric guitar mirrors his brother’s famous supporting trios.

But other comparisons were equally appropriate during Cole’s rewarding set. His good-natured, upbeat delivery and the sheer joy of performing that he communicates recalls Bobby Short. His style of piano self-accompaniment at times suggested the sensitive backing of singer-keyboardist Shirley Horn.

Yet Cole is his own man. His comfortable way with a variety of material and the ease with which it was delivered overcame any limitations he might have with range or pitch.

What Cole created was an exquisite evening of music fit for a fireside. Cole’s mix of standards (“Our Love Is Here to Stay,” “You Must Believe in Spring”), pop tunes (Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are,” Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”) and humorous numbers (“You’ve Let Yourself Go”) never lacked direction.

With a minimum of chat and by performing, as his brother did, both at and away from the piano, Cole brought a personal touch to everything he sang, giving weight to each lyric while taking none of them too seriously. He was especially communicative on ballads, bringing a tingling intimacy to Alan and Marilyn Bergman’s “On My Way to You.”

His way at the piano was smooth and sophisticated, harmonically richer than Horn’s but every bit as moody. Away from the keyboard, he struck a rich unison when singing in tandem with bassist Herman Burney’s bowed bass. He stepped lightly, as if it were a dance, around guitarist Jerry Byrd’s accompaniment.

Byrd brought a lot of life to Cole’s set, taking impressively lively solos that ranged quickly over the melodic framework. His drive during the close of “Love Walked In” rocked an otherwise understated rendition and his quote from “As Time Goes By” during the song “The More I See You” was the evening’s cleverest moment.

Like his brother, Cole has a way with humorous material, as he showed with “Home-Fried Potatoes.” He recalled his brother most when performing songs associated with Nat, including Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” and the rarely heard “Wild Is Love.”

Still, as he proved here, Freddy Cole stands out on his own merits, a singer who keeps the tradition of jazz-pop singers--and whose brother happens to have been an icon in that tradition--alive and well.