Natalie Cole en Español

Natalie Cole en Español is a final studio album by Natalie Cole, released on June 25, 2013 through Verve Records. Produced by the Cuban American composer Rudy Pérez, it is her first and only Spanish album and her first record released following her kidney transplant in 2009. The album is a follow-up to her third Christmas album Caroling, Caroling: Christmas with Natalie Cole. Natalie Cole en Español consists of twelve tracks, which are cover versions of Spanish standards. The album features duets with Juan Luis Guerra, Chris Botti, Arthur Hanlon, Andrea Bocelli and a posthumous duet with her father Nat King Cole.

Background
Cole had expressed interest in recording a Spanish album for nearly a decade but her label Capitol rejected her pitch and told her "the timing wasn't right". David Foster, with whom she had previously worked with on Unforgettable... with Love (1991), encouraged to attempt to record the album again. Cole cited Salvadoran nurse Esther as one of the primary influences for the recording of the album. Cole received a kidney transplant from Esther's niece in 2009 and referred to her connection with the nurse as causing her to be "drawn even more to Latin people, Latin programs". She added her connection to the Salvadoran family led her to "feel like [she's] part Latino now" and "(made) the desire to make this record become even stronger".

Weary of comparisons to her father's 1958 Spanish album Cole Español, Cole described her album as "not [being] a tribute to my father as much as it is a tribute to Latin music because of my father". During the recording of the album, Pérez served as Cole's language coach. Cole said "Black people and Hispanic people have the same kind of feel for passion, for music, for fun, for heart." She expressed a love for language by listing "I love French ... I love Portuguese, I love Italiano[,]" but emphasized that "for [her] right now is Español".

In the recording sessions, Pérez translated the lyrics into English to allow Cole to capture the emotions of the songs. Cole recalled on the first days of recording that she cried as "the translation of these Spanish lyrics is like poetry." When listening to the album, she found that "[she] liked [her]self singing in Spanish". She compared the recording process to that of Unforgettable... with Love as it allowed her to step out of her comfort zone to create what she viewed as art.

Critical response
Natalie Cole en Español received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Andy Kellman of AllMusic described the album as not being "a mere throwback to a brief phase in Nat's career". Kellman called it "a likable diversion from her norm" and commended her for using zest to make up for her lack of fluency. JazzTimes ' Christopher Loudon commended Cole's "deeper emotional connection to the lyrics" in comparison to her father's Spanish albums. Loudon praised the album as "all slickly grand-scale, yet it works satisfyingly well". Soultracks ' Justin Kantor wrote that the album is "a polished set largely comprisedof [sic] baladas romanticas with sweeping orchestration and spicy, yet decidedly controlled, vocal performances". Kantor found certain songs required "a tad more rhythmic creativity and free-spirited singing", but recommended the overall product to her fans.

Personnel

 * Natalie Cole – lead vocals
 * Ana Cristina – additional backing vocals
 * Casey Cole – additional backing vocals
 * Timolin Cole – additional backing vocals
 * Nat King Cole – sampled vocals (3)
 * Andrea Bocelli – lead vocals (5)
 * Jochem van der Saag – programming
 * Clay Perry – acoustic piano (1, 6, 7)
 * Rudy Pérez – acoustic piano (2, 3, 4, 9, 10), additional keyboards (8), keyboards (12), additional backing vocals
 * Arthur Hanlon – acoustic piano (8)
 * Janina Rosado – acoustic piano (11), synthesizers (11), synthesizer programming (11)
 * Juan Vicente Zambrano – additional keyboards (8)
 * Rene Toledo – nylon guitar (1, 12), guitars (2)
 * Brian Monroney – additional guitars (1, 12), guitars (2, 3, 4, 6-10)
 * Juan Luis Guerra – electric guitar (11), lead vocals (11), choir vocals
 * Ramón Stagnaro – acoustic guitar (11)
 * Julio Hernandez – bass (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12)
 * Chuck Bergeron – upright bass (3, 7)
 * Abednego DeLos Santos – bass (11)
 * Orlando Hernandez – drums (1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10)
 * Eduardo Rodriguez – percussion (1-4, 6-10)
 * Juan De La Cruz – bongos (11), maracas (11)
 * Isidro Bobadilla – chimes
 * Mike Brignola – baritone saxophone (1, 6-9)
 * Gary Keller – alto saxophone (1, 6-9)
 * Ed Calle – tenor saxophone (1, 3, 6-9)
 * Nadine Asin – flute (4, 7)
 * Paul Green – clarinet (7)
 * John Kricker – trombone (1, 6-9)
 * Francisco Dimus – flugelhorn, trumpet
 * Jim Hacker – trumpet (1, 6-9)
 * Chris Botti – trumpet solo (9)
 * Victor Mitrov – trumpet (11)

String section
 * Violins – Priscilla Gomez, Giorni Liriano, Guillermo Mota, Beckyrene Perez and Rosanna Rosario
 * Cellos – Milena Zigkovic and Georgina Betancourt
 * Violas – Anaris Iznaga and Alberto Iznaga
 * Concertmaster – Glenn Basham