Nat King Cole’s ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’: More Than A Mere ‘Jive Ditty’

Nat King Cole’s ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’: More Than A Mere ‘Jive Ditty’

In the years before Nat King Cole became one of the leading solo vocalists in America and around the world, there was a song that represented the high point of his achievements with his jazz trio. It would even inspire the African American military pilots who fought in World War II and became known as the Tuskegee Airmen, and it went on to enter the Grammy Hall of Fame. For Black History Month, this is the story of “Straighten Up And Fly Right.”