Chet Baker: Chet Baker Sings

Yet another incarnation of the 1954 album whose drowsy, cautious vocals brought actual trumpeter Baker mainstream popularity

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At 24, Chet Baker had been knocking around as a trumpeter for a couple of years, learning cool jazz and bad habits with Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan. This LP, recorded in early 1954, turned him into a heart-throb crooner, landing him top-vocalist awards and Hollywood roles. Like Nat Cole, adding easygoing vocals alongside his instrumental chops brought mainstream appeal.

While his mid-50s horn playing, especially with Mulligan, was razor-sharp and focused, Baker’s vocals here are drowsy and cautious, with more vibrato than on his trumpeting, which remains low-key here. The sensitive lover-boy act becomes a bit cloying at times, with lyrics that play on this dreamy image. Baker gamely works through corny lyrics, lightweight fluff and feigned innocence, as on I’ve Never Been In Love Before.

In a way, this is hard to listen to since we know what already lurked behind this veneer, and the misfortunes that were to come. Mulligan was already in prison for heroin, and Baker’s first stint behind bars was only a few years off, as were his second divorce, the loss of his teeth and disappearance from the music scene for years.

Despite – or because of – his rough life, he became a much more expressive, profound singer in later decades. Even his world-weary final recordings are more satisfying. On this test balloon, there are hints of the heftier singing to come, such as I Get Along Without You Very Well and the solo-duet The Thrill Is Gone.

The rest is pleasant enough to slide into your Sunday brunch soundtrack between Astrud and Ella, but this EU repress isn’t the best way to experience the album. This review copy sounded a hair duller and thinner than the 1998 Pacific Jazz CD, for instance, and had distortion on trumpet solos on a couple of tracks. The new cover art features clunky graphics but one of the classic William Claxton photos, which also played a key role in catapulting young Chet into pop stardom.

This is one of many recent manifestations of the album. Others have come from the same parent company in Spain in the last year or two, including:

jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/05/29/chet-baker-sings
jazzjournal.co.uk/2021/10/26/the-making-of-chet-baker-sings
jazzjournal.co.uk/2022/06/15/chet-baker-chet-baker-sings-the-definitive-collectors-edition
jazzjournal.co.uk/2022/11/06/chet-baker-sings-the-mono-stereo-versions

Discography
But Not for Me; Time After Time; My Funny Valentine; I Fall In Love Too Easily; There Will Never Be Another You; I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes); The Thrill Is Gone; Look For The Silver Lining (43.55)
Baker (v, t) with Russ Freeman (p, celeste); Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, Jimmy Bond (b); Bob Neel, Larance Marable, Peter Littman (d). LA, 1953-1954.
Valentine 896700