The older brother of jazz legend Nat “King”, Cole, Eddie Cole was a jazz bassist. Although he never enjoyed the same popularity as his younger brother, they did work together in the late ’30s. Eddie Cole was able to record his first credited records with the Rogues of Rhythm, Nat “King’ Cole’s late ’30s band. Eddie Cole, the first child of Perlina Adams and Reverend Edward J. Cole, was born in Montgomery, AL in 1910. The family moved to Chicago in 1923, four year after Nat Cole’s birth. He studied piano and bass as a boy and organized his own band at the age of 17. He was 20 when he was accepted into Noble Sissle’s band, the Sizzling Syncopators. There he stayed for six years and played alongside greats like Sidney Bechet or Clarence Brereton. After a 1936 European tour, Cole joined his brother’s band, the Rogues of Rhythm. He recorded under their names as well as several sides credited as Eddie Cole’s Solid Swingers. Cole was also featured on piano and vocals. Cole moved to Philadelphia after World War II. He started a comedy and jazz group called the Three Loose Nuts and a Bolt. Later, he shifted his focus to music and renamed his band Eddie Cole
