Freddy Cole's life was destined to be a musical one. Born in Chicago on 15 October 1931 into a family of musicians, Lionel Frederick Cole (to give him his full name) was the youngest of five children. His three elder brothers each followed their own paths into the music business, with one of them achieving spectacular success, the legendary Nat King Cole, who of course became an icon in twentieth century popular music. And let's not forget that Freddy is also uncle to Nat's daughter, Natalie Cole, herself a hugely talented not to mention Grammy Award winning singer. With a background such as his, it says much about Freddy Cole's own unique musical gifts, and indeed his personality that he has established and sustained a successful career, which stretches back to the 1950s. It's as Freddy points out in the title of one of his numerous compositions: I'm not my brother, I'm me.

Despite an LP made for the Dot label in 1964, it wasn't until the late 1970s that Freddy got the opportunity to record a series of albums that would do real justice to his talents. Recorded in the UK with an orchestra consisting of some of Britain's leading jazz and session musicians, two of these albums are the subject of this Vocalion reissue package. It brings together 1978's One More Love Song and 1980's Right from the Heart, both of which present Freddy in a programme of modern pop numbers with sophisticated, jazzy arrangements. Dutch arranger Jerry van Rooyen provided the charts for One More Love Song, and among the standout titles are Freddy's lovely readings of such songs as Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely, Bill Withers' Hello Like Before and Bill Champlin's Here is Where You Love Belongs, which features a solo from that doyen of tenor saxophonists, Tony Coe.

Recorded at the Decca and Morgan studios in London, 1980's Right from the Heart followed a similar pattern to that of One More Love Song, in that it contained contemporary pop and ballad material. Yet on this occasion the arrangements came from the pens of John Gally, Hennie Bekker and Steve Gray. Here, Freddy leads us through his characteristically excellent interpretations of songs ranging from the Kenny Rogers hit She Believes in Me and Guy Fletcher and Doug Flett's Somewhere Down the Line to Gene de Paul and Sammy Cahn's Teach Me Tonight and Harry Vanda and George Young's disco number The Day that My Heart Caught Fire. Undoubtedly, the best number is This Song's for You, and this has much to do with Steve Gray's involvement. Co-written by the album's producers, Emil Zoghby and Marcel Stellman, and recorded at Morgan Studios, Steve wrote for it a characteristically beautiful orchestration. Freddy's spoken-word introduction sets the scene for this romantic tour de force, and crowning it is a searing trumpet solo from ace studio musician Derek Watkins.