It may be troublesome to untangle the romantic fable surrounding Chet Baker from the deserves of his music. His stratospheric rise within the early Fifties owed a lot to the elegant model and rhythmic grace of his trumpet enjoying, however his beauty didn’t harm, and by the point he began to sing in a fragile and androgynous tone that sounded in contrast to another singer, he grew to become a teenage pin-up and a star, a rarity within the jazz world.
Baker spent his early years in Oklahoma and moved to Southern California along with his household as an adolescent. By 1952, he grew to become an everyday at jam periods on the Hermosa Seashore membership The Lighthouse and performed with Charlie Parker on a string of dates on the West Coast. As soon as Baker attached with baritone saxophonist and composer Gerry Mulligan, the scene shaped round The Lighthouse had developed a particular identification known as West Coast jazz. The model was cool, fairly, and managed, and Baker was on his method to changing into one of many scene’s largest stars (it also needs to be famous that most of the gamers have been white, which made the motion simpler to market and had one thing to do with the copious media protection surrounding it).
By the center of the Fifties, Baker had left Mulligan’s group and was making information below his personal title. He gained a number of Downbeat polls for finest vocalist and finest trumpet participant, and he was one of many largest new stars in music. However medication and authorized issues caught up with him, and by the 60s a string of arrests and intervals in jail led him to Europe, the place he was obtained reverently at the same time as hassle adopted him. There, the tragic particulars of his life solely added to his fable, and his exploits have been fodder for newspaper tabloids.
Over his final twenty years, his music took an more and more sluggish and mournful flip. He largely lived in Europe and recorded for small labels on the Continent, and he grew to become a tragic cult determine.
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Heartthrob Vocalist
When Baker performed a supporting position in Gerry Mulligan’s revolutionary quartet – the group included no piano, uncommon on the time, and its absence allowed them to experiment with concord – one music of their set was “My Funny Valentine,” a comparatively obscure quantity from a Rogers & Hart musical. In instrumental kind, it was a showcase for Baker’s brooding tone, performed within the trumpet’s decrease register with minimal inflection. Not lengthy after, Baker started singing on “My Funny Valentine” in addition to enjoying his horn, and when he shaped his personal group with pianist Russ Freeman it grew to become his signature music.
Baker recorded “My Funny Valentine” many occasions, and it was a staple of his life set till his final days, however by no means bested the model he lower in 1954, which first appeared on Chet Baker Sings. His voice is so delicate it brings to thoughts a whisper; he by some means makes youthful, nearly goofy innocence sound haunting. “Let’s Get Lost,” recorded a yr later, is relatively sunny and uptempo, and Baker’s vocals ooze allure. It grew to become one other of his signature songs. “Everything Happens to Me” comes from Chet Baker Sings It May Occur to You, from his late 50s stint on Riverside, and it’s a traditional ballad that advantages from the velvety recording.
The Younger Man With The Horn
Although his singing voice introduced him mainstream recognition, most recordings of Baker within the first dozen years of his profession have been instrumental, and the very best of them are potent examples of small-group jazz when competitors on this space was very intense.
Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less quartet served as Baker’s breakthrough, and the band’s early sides haven’t aged a day. The band’s model of “Lady Is a Tramp” from 1953 reveals the apparent affect of Miles Davis’ Start of the Cool periods just a few years earlier, for which Mulligan was current. He and Baker unfurl lengthy melodies that braid collectively and counsel uncommon harmonic insurance policies whereas by no means shedding sight of the tune. “I’ll Remember April” is from Witch Physician, a dwell set from 1953 launched many years later. It places us within the room of the legendary membership and reveals Baker in an early however absolutely shaped state, buying and selling riffs with saxophonists Bud Shank and Jimmy Giuffre whereas Freeman, bassist Howard Rumsey, and drummer Max Roach swing like mad. The next yr, Baker lower “Stella by Starlight” along with his sextet and the model is heat and breezy however within the pocket, as Baker’s notes appear to bounce in mid-air.
In 1955, Baker launched into an in depth European tour with a band that included younger pianist Dick Twardzik, whose harmonically wealthy enjoying fascinated jazz insiders. They recorded extensively in Paris and “Mid-Forte,” taken from the primary version of Chet in Paris, reveals the interaction between the 2. Twardzik performs barely dissonant clusters within the higher register over which Baker zig-zags confidently, and the distinction is gorgeous.
Baker first lower “Look for the Silver Lining” a number of years earlier, however the instrumental model recorded with a sextet of Italian gamers in Milan in 1959 is particular. The trumpeter’s opening assertion is relaxed and floating and he adorns the melody however by no means strays too removed from it. The earlier yr, Baker lower a fantastic album with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, a kindred spirit whose ethereal model and deft soloing helped to outline cool jazz. They be a part of forces on a superb medley of three requirements, “Autumn In New York/Embraceable You/What’s New,” taken at a leisurely tempo. Baker’s tone is fats in comparison with his extra impressionistic ballad work and supplies an earthy distinction to Getz’s moodier strains.
That very same yr, Baker recorded Miles Davis’ “Solar” for the excellent LP Chet Baker in New York, borrowing bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones from Davis’ band. Chambers and Jones swing mightily and Baker ably navigates the groove, constructing pressure for a number of bars at a time after which releasing it like a sigh.
Deep Desires
Whether or not singing or enjoying trumpet, Baker was a grasp of ambiance. As his profession progressed, he gravitated towards sluggish tempos and hazy preparations dripping with vibe. A handful of songs from the late Fifties and into the 60s showcase this rapturous aspect of Baker’s music. “Deep in a Dream,” which Baker later stated was his single favourite music, will get an impossibly lush association on 1959’s Chet Baker With Fifty Italian Strings and Baker matches its reverie with a delicate but assured vocal.
“Alone Together,” the opening lower from Baker’s traditional 1958 LP Chet – arguably his finest full-length – reveals how he may inhabit this near-ambient house on an instrumental tune. Pianist Invoice Evans units the desk superbly with an introductory passage that shares musical DNA along with his immortal composition “Blue in Green,” and when Baker enters his solo conveys romance and thriller. “I Talk to the Trees” additionally comes from Baker’s interval on Riverside and is the spotlight from his document, Chet Baker Performs the Better of Lerner & Loewe. His horn bathed in reverb, Baker stretches out every word of the melody to maximise its emotional impression.
In 1964 and 1965, Baker usually performed flugelhorn within the studio and through this period he recorded an album-length tribute to Billie Vacation with a 10-piece band. Although he doesn’t sing on the document, he conveys a few of Vacation’s particular class on “Don’t Explain,” profiting from the horn’s softer and rounder tone. “Stairway to the Stars” was initially issued the identical yr on the Status LP Comin’ on With the Chet Baker Quintet and was later repackaged because the title observe on a compilation of his work on the label. Baker is once more on flugelhorn, and his solo captures the music’s deep sense of ache and longing.
Nonetheless Smokin’
Whereas we’ll all the time know Baker finest for his ballad work, he may nonetheless cook dinner on uptempo materials, at the same time as his well being worsened. “This Is the Thing,” from the album Child Breeze, is a dense and hectic exercise lower late in 1964. After a gap assertion from alto saxophonist Frank Srozier, Baker enters, blasting quick phrases to make the mellower flugelhorn sound particularly gentle and joyful. “Go-Go,” initially discovered on Boppin’ With The Chet Baker Quintet, finds Baker enjoying a pungent solo at breakneck pace.
The Lengthy Goodbye
Baker’s ultimate twenty years have been an infinite stream of gigs and recording periods, and he largely stayed in Europe. For the title observe of the 1977 album You Can’t Go House Once more, Baker trades solos with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, a cool jazz compatriot with a clarion tone. Desmond had terminal most cancers – this was one in all his final studio dates – and he and Baker commerce poignant solos over electrical piano and strings. In 1983, Baker met up once more with Stan Getz, this time for a sequence of live shows in Northern Europe. Baker tackles “But Not for Me” at excessive velocity, and by this level scatting was an everyday a part of his vocal repertoire. His piercing, wordless solo isn’t completely in tune however has a formidable rhythmic drive.
Of Baker’s late-career works, Diane, his 1985 duet album with pianist Paul Bley, could possibly be his masterpiece. Although Bley’s studied and formalist model may appear an odd match with Baker’s intuitive lyricism, they meld collectively superbly on “How Deep Is the Ocean,” Baker’s breathy tone filling within the huge house left in Bley’s sympathetic accompaniment. Even this late, after numerous drug busts and intervals of close to poverty, Baker’s soloing is pure poetry, discovering the beating coronary heart on the heart of the music. He loved an uptick in consideration in the course of the decade, culminating in Bruce Weber’s 1988 documentary Let’s Get Misplaced. However alas, Baker didn’t dwell to see the movie’s premiere. He died below mysterious circumstances after falling from a resort room window in Amsterdam months earlier than its launch, an incident that has by no means been absolutely defined. He was 58.
The Legendary Riverside Albums may be purchased right here.
