Montgomery mural pays homage to ‘King’ of jazz
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Exactly 52 years after music legend Nat King Cole’s death, Sunny Paulk and Corey Spearman were busy bringing him back to life.
The two local artists worked their brushes like Cole could a piano. The bricks are now painted blue, and down the wall from Cole’s smiling visage, a snippet of the words that led him to fame — and arguably to this wall — is appropriately emblazoned: “…so unforgettable thinks that I am unforgettable, too.”
As Paulk and Spearman finished their part of the mural — there is currently more work to be done — passers-by stopped to admire and cars honked in approval.
Nat King Cole is back. And Montgomery is happy to have him.
“We’re just excited Montgomery is doing more public art,” Paulk said. “People are stopping, honking and waving, and everybody is just excited about it. That’s really fun for us.”
The Nat King Cole mural, located on Maxwell Boulevard overlooking downtown, is the second public art project commissioned by the Public Art Commission. The first, the Montgomery Street mural which depicts the Selma to Montgomery march, also was painted by Paulk and Spearman.
The mural is the brainchild of Atlanta-based artist Jerry Gentemann who is currently painting panels that will fill in the rest of the wall. Gentemann, who lived in Montgomery for 10 years between the ’60s and ’70s before attending school at Auburn University, saw that the commission was accepting proposals for a historical mural and saw an opportunity to pay respect to a fellow Montgomerian.
“I found that Nat King Cole was born there and thought, ‘What an interesting subject matter for a long wall,” Gentemann said. “Some of the history behind his career is just incredible. He was one of the first black men to have his own television show, he was arrested in Birmingham and there’s a big history of Nat King Cole and civil rights in Alabama, so I thought it was well worth the effort.”
After local painter/ contractor LC Alexander cleaned and primed the wall, the pair were able to
once again capture Montgomery’s history in color.
“It’s like walking in the museum and touching the art and nobody telling you to get out,” Spearman said about being allowed to paint on buildings. “It’s great.”
Around the painting and along the long wall, Gentemann will place 10 panels painted to look like Cole’s posters or album covers.
Gentemann also bought the rights to Cole’s 1951 hit song “Unforgettable,” and a QR code on one panel will let those looking at the mural listen to the song.
“As long as the wall is up people can listen to that song,” Gentemann said.
Needless to say Montgomery, won’t be forgetting Nat King Cole anytime soon.