Gregory Porter’s warm, rich voice covering his favourite songs by the legendary Nat ‘King’ Cole; it sounds so good on paper, but in practice, it feels like a commercial exercise, aimed at his newly-acquired daytime TV audience and the Christmas market. Fans of his more earlier, more soulful and funky material, will likely be disappointed. This is pre-Beatles, middle-of-the-road 1960, not 1960 What.

A cursory look at the track listing suggests that Porter is a fan or Cole’s later, orchestral albums, rather than the jazzier Nat ‘King’ Cole Trio, with songs like Mona Lisa, Smile and Ballerina. Cole’s finest orchestral albums were recorded with arranger Gordon Jenkins, with the first two – Love Is The Thing (1957) and The Very Thought Of You (1958) – ranking amongst his finest recordings. But too many of his later albums veered further away from jazz, and closer to easy listening – and Porter makes much the same mistake here.

Part of the problem is with the arrangements, courtesy of Grammy-award winning arranger, Vince Mendoza, which I found somewhat heavy-handed; too saccharine for my taste. On Quizas, Quizas, Quizas (Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps), for example, the arrangement was less Latin-style than the original, and lacked the same charm, whilst on Miss Otis Regrets, Mendoza feels the need to make the arrangement more dramatic, almost cinematic, rather than let Cole Porter’s lyrics do the talking. Compare this version to the infinitely superior version by Ella Fitzgerald, and hear the difference.

And whilst I love Porter’s voice, I also found that he lacked the poise and grace of Cole’s phrasing, which was always so refined and elegant.

There are some notable exceptions. L-O-V-E is excellent, in part because the arrangements are more stripped back, revealing more of Porter’s core quartet, which comprises of pianist Christian Sands, bassist Reuben Rogers,and drummer Ulysses Owens. There’s a swing here that is missing from many of the preceding tracks. Likewise Sweet Lorraine, which again features the Quartet, and sees Porter putting his own spin on the vocal.

This is clearly a project that means a great deal to Gregory Porter, who listened to Cole whilst growing up with his mother. “Recording Nat’s music was very personal because I could hear and feel my mother,” he explained. “And I still feel myself searching for my father.” With more fitting arrangements, this could have been a fine album, but this feels like a lost opportunity.

The album will likely consolidate Porter’s growing success, now that he is recording for the Blue Note label, but those daytime TV sofas may be a little too comfortable for those brought up his funkier material. For a man who claimed he would not submit to musical genocide, this is a little too close to comfort.