# CD review: Chet Baker – The Hits 2019: Video, CD covers

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/12/12/cd-review-chet-baker-the-hits-2019-video-cd-covers/
- Published: 2019-12-12T19:33:16+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Five albums recorded in the late 1950s capture the skill and the frailty of an
acclaimed jazz trumpeter on the brink of disaster.**

Chet Baker had two careers. Through the mid-1950s, he was one of the biggest stars
in jazz, a strikingly beautiful man who played trumpet and also sang in a strange
and androgynous voice that seemed too fragile for this world. He won both critics’
and readers’ polls in _DownBeat_ magazine, and his recordings, particularly his 
early work with baritone sax player Gerry Mulligan, were essential documents of 
West Coast jazz. But in the years following Baker’s descent into heroin addiction,
he became a cult artist, a figure whose musical output was often eclipsed by the
tragic narrative of his life. His gaunt and caved-in face told the story of a promising
young talent gone to seed.

In the late ’50s, after his first run of legal problems connected to his accelerating
drug use, Baker spent a year cutting albums for the Riverside label. It was a transitional
period, a moment when Baker hovered between one career and the next. He still sounds
young—he would turn 30 just after recording these LPs—and he’s surrounded by top-
shelf supporting musicians, the kinds of bands that would be difficult for Baker
to assemble once he became an industry pariah.

Baker began his year on Riverside with **_It Could Happen to You_**, a vocal album
aimed at a pop-leaning audience. His singing—unsteady in pitch, frail and delicate,
with a disorienting mix of sexiness and naiveté—has always been an acquired taste,
but there’s a context for it now that didn’t exist then. Its damaged innocence and
dreamy loveliness carry a hint of irony that, 60 years on, brings to mind sounds
we might hear in the unlit corners in David Lynch’s universe. You can hear that 
quality all over _It Could Happen to You_—take “My Heart Stood Still,” where Baker
sings at the higher end of his natural range for an effect both chill-inducing and
slightly creepy. **_Outtakes and Alternates_** is heavy on vocal numbers from the
_It Can Happen to You_ sessions. Some songs are even more haunting (“While My Lady
Sleeps” is downright gothic, with Baker close to the microphone and singing way 
behind the beat), while others were shelved for a reason (he sounds especially high
on this alternate take of “Everything Happens to Me” and struggles to articulate
some words). If you can tune into Baker’s unsteady frequency, the voice showcased
here is like nothing in jazz.

Baker was obsessed with Miles Davis’ cerebral _Birth of the Cool_ and one can trace
a significant portion of his trumpet style to those sessions. Like Davis, Baker 
mostly avoided the extremes of his horn’s range and focused on its middle, the frequency
band where his melody lines could evoke a human voice. He had a natural ear for 
phrasing, and would alter the melodies of familiar tunes to wring a maximum amount
of feeling from a minimum number of notes. **_Chet Baker in New York_** pairs Baker
with two veterans of Davis’ rhythm section, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly
Joe Jones, along with Al Haig (who played with Charlie Parker) and saxophonist Johnny
Griffin. Continuing the homage, the group even tackles Davis’ tune “Solar.” Baker
was strung out and in rough shape around the time _In New York_ was cut, and the
idea, according to Riverside label owner Orrin Keepnews (who also produced the session),
was to “cover him over cosmetically with the best supporting cast, try to bury him.”
To an extent, the approach worked. “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” is lush and romantic—
a little vacant, maybe, but easy to get lost in—while “Hotel 49” is a satisfying
10-minute blues on which Griffin shines.

Much better is **_Chet_**, a set of pure floating atmosphere cut directly after 
_In New York_. Most of the tunes were recorded with pianist Bill Evans, who was 
at a peak moment of his career, and his style fit perfectly with Baker’s. “It Never
Entered My Mind” is a poignant showcase for Baker’s horn, his judicious use of vibrato
elevating the sadness as the rest of the ensemble falls in the mix to allow his 
phrases to linger. On some tunes Baker plays eloquently with other soloists: A duet
with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams on “’Tis Autumn” allows their horns to entwine
as if in an embrace. On “Alone Together,” Evans improvises a haunting opening refrain
that sounds like a trial run for “Blue in Green,” the piece he would record with
Davis on _Kind of Blue_ a few months later. Mature and beautiful, with a great selection
of songs rendered in slow motion, _Chet_ is one of Baker’s best albums.

**_Plays the Best of Lerner & Loewe_**, another instrumental LP cut later in 1959,
finds Baker paying homage to the composers of _My Fair Lady_. It’s the weakest of
these records, though it has its charms. Ballad-heavy and recorded with heavier 
reverb, there’s something almost crass about it, a sickly glamour that sounds good
in the right mood. Baker completed it after serving several months at Rikers Island,
and the rest of the 1960s were disastrous for him: an endless series of busts and
jail time, mostly in Europe, that led to his expulsion from several countries. In
1966, he was injured in an assault likely related to a drug deal; he lost some teeth,
impairing his ability to play, and his music career ground to a halt. Eventually
he returned, first to make novelty records that ought to count as some of the worst
music ever made—try “[Sugar, Sugar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKO27jIqcJk),”
from _Blood, Chet and Tears_—and then for the decades-long cult period, in which
he recorded and gigged constantly and once in a while made something great. The 
Riverside period, flawed but occasionally brilliant, is the last, missed exit before
he got on that road.

**Tracklist:**

**CD 1 – Chet Sings**

01. My funny Valentine
 02. I fall in love too easily 03. But not for me 04. Time
after time 05. I get along without you very well 06. There will never be another
you 07. Look for the silver lining 08. The thrill is gone 09. This is always 10.
Someone to watch over me 11. Grey December 12. I wish I knew 13. Daybreak 14. Just
friends 15. I remember you 16. Let’s get lost 17. Long ago and far away 18. You 
don’t know what love is 19. That old feeling 20. It’s always you 21. I’ve never 
been in love before 22. Line for Lyons 23. My ideal

**CD 2 – Chet Plays**

01. My funny Valentine
 02. You go to my head 03. Lush life 04. Alone together 05.
These foolish things 06. It never entered my mind 07. Sweet Lorraine 08. If you 
could see me now 09. September song 10. Tenderly 11. You’d be so nice to come home
to 12. Time on my hands 13. I could have danced all night 14. You and the night 
and the music 15. Early morning mood 16. How high the moon

**CD 3 – Chet Sings And Plays**

01. Forgetful
 02. Summertime 03. Deep in a dream 04. It could happen to you 05.
Lover man 06. Everything happens to me 07. Autumn in New York 08. Dancing on the
ceiling 09. I’ll remember April 10. How long has this been going on 11. Old devil
moon 12. Once in a while 13. My heart stood still 14. How about you 15. Like someone
in love 16. While my lady sleeps 17. I’m old fashioned 18. My funny Valentin

![Image result for Chet Baker - The Hits"](https://i0.wp.com/www.jazzmessengers.
com/43449-thickbox_default/the-hits.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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