Nat "King" Cole regenerated?

I can´t think of a worst possible question to make about a record: why? Furthermore: why was it necessary, interesting, conceivable to make this? And if those questions are hard to express, the answers are even harder when you think or listen to this ultimate violation called Nat King Cole´s Re:generations (EMI Capitol), to be launched in March 2009. 

I call it violation because it's forced, violent, unpleasant and a crime. It's a shared responsability among many names, but ultimately another example of how the copyright owners of a musical legacy - most of the times either a record company or an artist's family - understand nothing about paying a tribute to a master. Because Nat King Cole, a master in his own right- not necessarily his easy going ballads, mainstream crossovers or his "sings in Spanish" albums - didn't deserve to suffer what they named Re:generations.

The news arrived to me through Amp Fiddler's Myspace bulletin. He's one of the Class A artists invited to "construct a tuneful bridge between generations, cultures and races" (quoting the press release), "to honor Nat King Cole’s continued cultural influence around the  planet, 90 years after his birth". How? This is the inmediate question after you read the anouncement. Well, settting up another instalment of eclecticism, macedonia, mash up of styles, criteria and talent. They call it "evocative of a sleek and stylish metrolounge where music and the visual arts converge ". Metrolunge? Sleek? ART? We call it out-of-fashion, top 40, candles-and-wine, melting cheese, mum-and-dad electronica. Basically Verve Remixed at his worst.  

But how? Because the talent hired for the sad adventure could have worked: they are Stephen & Damien Marley, Amp Fiddler, Cee-Lo, Nas & Salaam Remi, The Roots, TV On The Radio, Brazilian Girls, Bebel Gilberto & Michaelangelo L'Acqua, Just Blaze, Izza Kizza & Souldiggaz, Cut Chemist, Bitter:Sweet, will.i.am & Natalie Cole. 

The idea was similar to the multi-awarded Unforgettable project, where Natalie Cole reunited with her deceased dad to make mainstream duets with new recording techniques. In Re:generations Nat's voice in the original tracks is featured in today's different production aproaches from tamed lions such as tha artists invited. With the general direction of a Grammy-fueled, Billboard-hearted, shopping mall buyer in mind. The result is weak, rushed and uninspired. Maybe with the exception of Cut Chemist, the musical walk through these tracks says very little about Nat King Cole's real dimension (they actually nail him even more into his easy listening memory).

Too bad for the missed opportunity to honor something more than greed. I'll keep in my happy memory, by simply pressing PLAY in my hi-fi, true examples of Cole's (Nat) artistry such as his trio recordings with Lester Young. One of my all time favorites to kickout the day.