One doesn't envy a musician who grew up as a brother to jazz giant Nat "King" Cole. Yet Freddy Cole, whose voice to the day resembles that of his legendary sibling, seems to have survived the experience fairly well. Though some listeners undoubtedly savor the trademark family timbre, Freddy Cole makes no big deal of it. Nor does he go out of his way to distance himself from the legacy of his irreplaceable brother.

Instead, Cole sings freely and easily, accompanying himself on piano in a robust style... For all his warm appeal as a vocalist, Cole proves still more enticing as pianist. When he plays bop-tinged right-hand lines, his tone is bigger and his ideas more succinct that one typically encounters in this type of playing. And when Cole applies both fists to the keyboard, his chords are among the brawniest this side of McCoy Tyner.