Chet Baker: Chet In Iceland
Hardly a month seems to go by without a Chet Baker reissue or the release of one of his newly discovered live performances. Thorbjorn Sjogren’s excellent Baker discography lists this 1985 concert as a private recording, and here, late in the day, it makes its first commercial appearance. Sjogren also lists Beatrice and There Will Never Be Another You, which are not included here.
With Baker’s off-the-cuff approach to performing there were no rehearsals, only a 15-minute discussion to confirm material and keys. Ted Gioia’s Jazz Standards points out that there are about 200 compositions that every jazz player is expected to know, along with the 12-bar form. It also helps that many popular jazz originals are themselves contrafacts. The local rhythm section prove to be thoroughly familiar with these staples from the trumpeter’s repertoire and they handle their parts with distinction.
Just like Sonny Stitt, Baker was something of a Lone Wolf, constantly travelling from country to country. 1985 found him performing in the USA, France, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, England, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia. Unless he was multilingual, he might have needed the musician’s international language to indicate keys: one finger raised for one sharp (key of G) and one finger lowered for one flat (key of F) and so on.
Chet Baker brings his usual fragile lyricism to standards like Don’t Blame Me and Blue Room and he responds to the hard-driving blues groove generated by the rhythm section on Sippin’ At Bell’s and Down with some unexpectedly extrovert blowing. His singing was always an acquired taste so the less said about his vocals on But Not For Me, The Touch Of Your Lips and the inevitable My Funny Valentine, the better.
Discography
Don’t Blame Me; But Not For Me; In Your Own Sweet Way; My Funny Valentine; Blue Room; Sippin’ At Bell’s; The Touch Of Your Lips; Down; Dolphin Dance (56.45)
Baker (t, v); Kristjan Magnusson (p); Tomas Einarsson (b); Sveinn Oli Jonsson (d). Reykjavik, Iceland, 2 February 1985.
Blanott Records
Liz Cracchiolo: Just A Girl I’m A Woman
Liz Cracchiolo has become an integral part of a thriving Tucson jazz scene where she often headlines at the city’s exclusive Century Room. She originally trained in musical theatre at the University of Arizona and has appeared in productions of Mama Mia!, Les Miserables and The Producers as well as performing in Broadway shows like If Only I Were Taller and I Do Men. This is her debut recording, which features a refreshing look at some jazz classics, pop hits and R&B staples.
With perfect intonation and crystal-clear diction, she opens with No Doubt’s punk-inspired Just A Girl which in her hands becomes a subtle and very slinky ballad – worthy of a Nicki Parrott. Nancy Sinatra’s big hit These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ develops into a foot-tapping swinger in Ms Cracchiolo’s hands, buoyed by some raunchy alto from Erica von Kleist. Just as an aside, that fine West Coast bass player Chuck Berghofer was responsible for the intriguing semi-tone figure that distinguished Nancy’s 1966 recording. Fever was introduced by Little Willie John in 1956 but it was Peggy Lee two years later who put it on the map as a torch-song with minimalist accompaniment from Joe Mondragon and Shelly Manne. Ms Cracchiolo manages just fine with only Russell Hall’s big-toned bass for company. Mr Brightside is a forgettable hit from The Killers transformed into a dramatic tango worthy of Astor Piazzolla. Edward W. Hardy’s violin here helps create one of the album’s highlights. Benny Benack III, with his powerful Roy Eldridge inspired trumpet, adds his considerable presence to I’m Beginning To See The Light and Basin Street Blues.
Liz Cracchiolo and her impressive supporting cast have created an imaginative set of contemporary moods here, each perfectly realised. By the way, the crossed out first three words of the album title are as intended.
Discography
Just A Girl; These Boots Are Made For Walkin’; Sweet Child O’ Mine; Fever; Mr. Brightside; I’m Beginning To See The Light; Tainted Love; Basin Street Blues; I’m A Woman (32.24)
Selected personnel: Cracchiolo (v); Benny Benack III (t, v); Erica von Kleist (as, f); Edward W. Hardy (vn); Marcus Lolo (p, org); Hajime Yoshida (elg); Russell Hall (b); Savannah Harris (d); Drew Wutke (p, pc). New York City, 2025.
Pacific Coast Jazz PJ62613
Miles Davis: Blue Haze
Due to personal problems the early 50s were difficult years for Miles Davis. He occasionally pawned his trumpet, which often meant borrowing one from Art Farmer. His friend Clark Terry points out in his autobiography that in 1953 he discovered Davis lying in the gutter on Broadway. Clark took him to his room at the Hotel America and left him to rest there. When he returned later there was “no Miles, no clothes and no horn” so Clark had to borrow an instrument for an upcoming Ellington road-trip. Davis soon went back to his parents’ home in East St. Louis where he successfully kicked his habit cold turkey.
When Lights Are Low is one of the titles he recorded before he left New York. He ignored composer Benny Carter’s bridge by moving the A section up a fourth. This created a new middle-eight which has been replicated by many others over the years. Charles Mingus’s Smooch, aka Weird Nightmare, has the composer taking John Lewis’s place at the piano. The sleeve-note hints at Lewis being called away because of an emergency but Brian Priestley’s biography suggests that Mingus felt Lewis’s playing would be “a little too white” for such a sombre piece.
On his return to New York in 1954 Davis recruited Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, who became his rhythm section of choice for club dates. His solo on Four was celebrated in vocalese by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross on their 1959 album The Swingers, with Zoot Sims. The Leap is notable for the use of pedal points, where the harmony is suspended, allowing the soloists to temporarily improvise over one chord – perhaps a harbinger of Miles’s later wholesale adoption of modal playing.
Things were to change dramatically a year later when he formed one of the greatest small groups of all time with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
Discography
I’ll Remember April; Four; Old Devil Moon; Smooch; It Never Entered My Mind; Blue Haze; When Lights Are Low; Tune Up; Miles Ahead; The Leap (44.16)
Davis (t); Dave Schildkraut (as); Horace Silver, Charles Mingus, John Lewis (p); Percy Heath( b); Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Max Roach (d). New York & New Jersey, 1953, 1954.
WaxTime 772384
