Track Listing

1. My Funny Valentine
2. Someone to Watch over Me
3. Moonlight Becomes You
4. This Is Always
5. I'm Glad There Is You
6. Time After Time
7. Sweet Lorraine
8. It's Always You
9. Let's Get Lost
10. Moon Love
11. Like Someone in Love
12. I've Never Been in Love Before
13. Isn't It Romantic?
14. I Fall in Love Too Easily

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8972 in Music
• Released on: 1994-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com
Chet Baker was at the height of his popularity, the epitome of cool jazz, when these tracks were recorded for Pacific Jazz between 1952 and 1954. While Baker could hold his own in bop settings, the emphasis in this collection is squarely on his lyrical approach to ballads, whether singing or playing trumpet, with just a rhythm section or an added string orchestra. His vocals were absolutely distinctive, sung in a high-pitched, even fragile voice seemingly drained of emotion and yet possessing an inherent charm, a detachment that might be both the antithesis of style and its definition, whether it's heard as sensitivity or indifference. The singing is a double of his trumpet playing here, spare and barely present but achieving much through nuance and suggestion. Pianist Russ Freeman is an almost constant partner, supplying deft chords and harmonic daring, amplifying Baker's ideas. Their empathy is especially evident in the beautiful instrumental "Moon Love," but it's just as significant on signature Baker songs such as "My Funny Valentine," "Let's Get Lost," and "Like Someone in Love." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

MY INTRODUCTION TO CHET BAKER
This CD was my first introduction to Chet Baker's vocals and trumpet playing and it is still my favorite. What a gorgeous recording. Compiled from several different collections recorded from 1953 to 1956, Baker's voice is so pure, so vulnerable and sweet....Mel Torme-like in its "foggy" quality, but also lighter than Torme, a boy/man tenor. His trumpet is, as always, exquisite.

The songs are all classics and include the title song by Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me" and my personal favorite, Jule Styne's "Time After Time." There is also an arrangement of Jimmy Van Heusen's "Moonlight Becomes You" that is as smooth and beautiful as the more famous one by Bing Crosby.

All of the selections are love songs, in intimate arrangements for late-night, romantic listening. There is, unfortunately, not one liner note. I would have loved to know about the other players and about Baker's life at this point in time. As compensation, Capitol Records has published William Claxton's famous photographic portrait of the handsome, shirtless Baker, trumpet in hand, and a female model close by on the front and back of the album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Chet's most popular vocal album
Chet Baker was already a budding jazz trumpet star when he decided to try vocals, the natural extension of his close-to-the-melodic-line trumpet style.

Chet Baker, apres le deluge, with the movie star looks intact and the high-pitched, fragile, Cool, sensitive voice sings (mostly) here on his best selling vocal album. And he signs on key! (In his later years, after a lot of bad habits, his trumpet playing improved, and his singing was consistantly flat). But here he is before his habits had taken their toll.

His singing style, even in the 50's, points back to a much earlier era, to the Crosby/Sinatra romantic and sad Saloon Songs of the 30's and 40's. And Chet always seemed to have a group of young women following him around, like Sinatra.

Here he often seems so fragile, etherial, non-macho and so sensitive as to be not of this earth. This album is definately Midnight listening, laid back, romantic, wistful music pointing to a time long ago or a time that never was. A stress antidote.

A treasure to Chet Baker fans and lovers. There is a "best of" which contains many of these highlights, but this is the original. Probably the best introduction to Chet's vocal music. And of course it contains "My Funny Valentine"!

5 stars for a bestseller.

Silent yearning
This musical recording astounded me during a visit to a friend's home for supper. I enjoyed it so much, that I forgot I was there to eat. One can easily sink into a chair while listening to Chet and forget why one IS. Chet's vocal delivery is voluptious, enrapturing, warm, and invites you to protect. It is as if words became tears and laughter doused by irony. I highly recommend this album for your most special gatherings, or for those times when you just want to be alone with your thoughts. It is perfect for listening to, or background music. I look forward to creating a collection of this man's wonderful work.