A second selection I would like you to consider from the King Cole Trio album is the version of “Body and Soul.” I have often referred this particular rendition to students when they have asked me about an approach to playing ballads. If we listen to Nat's interpretation of this great standard, the first thing that becomes clear is that he gives at the very beginning a respectful and moving interpretation of the melody. Having established this, he then, and only then, proceeds to deviate and interject his own feelings improvisationally into the performance. His almost languid quotation of the melody from Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King subliminally becomes a quiet understatement that in many ways enhances, rather than disrupts, the structure of Johnny Green's classic. I particularly admire the way that Oscar Moore retains this feeling established by Nat in his solo. The integration of these two musical statements, to me, serves to broaden the harmonic and melodic possibilities of this composition. This is a performance that, in my opinion, will live forever as a masterpiece of trio integration.