Chet Baker Sings

WHAT NYMITH SAYS

This is possibly the apex of Songbook interpretations, at least as far as the 1950s are concerned. Romantic jazz man and heroin addict Chet Baker took every single good idea the previous year had offered and brought them to the next level. Julie is Her Name, Cloud 7 and In the Wee Small Hours were far from perfect but Chet Baker Sings damn well is. He managed to combine the three elements that London, Bennett and Sinatra had used separately and by artful combination, outdid them all.

First of all, Chet Baker played the trumpet as well as sang (both in a remarkably clean style) and Chet Baker Sings was his début vocal album. He was a true jazzman and naturally enough outdid Tony Bennett in the search for the perfect ensemble, since he already had one. He wasn't just the singer and this alone probably explains the album's artistic success. He had Russ Freeman on piano/celesta, Bob Neel on drums and Carson Smith on bass. The celesta is a trifle unnecessary but otherwise this is pure style.

There's a remarkable cohesion to the album from there on. Taking a page from Sinatra, Chet Baker Sings is compiled from the "sad" Songbook. Only 'Time After Time' qualifies for a tender love song and it's put near the beginning, soon buried under an avalanche of gloom. It's a mood album, a male equivalent to the torchy shadows of Julie is Her Name only even more consistent.

It all begins with his voice. Boyish and smooth yet flat and expressionless - it should be warm but is instead cool and it transforms every one of these songs into something uncanny, darker perhaps than he even intended them to be. This is summed up best by 'My Funny Valentine,' Baker's signature song. This daft showtune is given a sparse backing that forms a textured silence (seriously, it's like Baker's at the mike and everyone else is on the far side of the room; a cappella with instruments) over which Baker's voice becomes a possessive murmur. The effect is chilling and stalkerish. "Each day is Valentine's Day..." If there were Goths in the 50s, this was their album.

You don't believe me? Listen to 'The Thrill is Gone.' Just an average sad song ... except he's singing it from the bottom of an abyss. When he sings "the thrill is gone/I can see it in your eyes/I can hear it in your sighs" his voice is so empty that he may as well be singing of himself. Eat your heart out, Jim Morrison, no one ever sang "this is the end..." with more despond than Chet Baker does here. His voice remains perfectly calm throughout, so if you close your eyes and hang on to every softly sung phrase, the effect becomes ever more eerie.

'My Funny Valentine' and 'The Thrill is Gone' may be the highest dosages of despair on the record, but critically, the rest of the songs do not let the atmosphere down. He competes with Sinatra on 'I Get Along Without You Very Well,' besting him easily (not sure he needed the celesta's help, though) and with Bennett on 'I Fall in Love Too Easily.' Bennett's interpretation was excellent - genuinely heartbroken, matching the over sensitivity of the character. Baker sounds tired and desensitized - it's happened one too many times and there's no bouncing back anymore. Very Julie London.

A couple of faster songs, 'There Will Never Be Another You' and 'But Not for Me' function more as band showcases than vocal ones, pushing away any feel of monotony without damaging the mood. Baker's unusual voice is not ideally suited to swift tempos but the songs' melancholy lyrics and his sped-up slow phrasing guarantee the final result is still a little intriguing. And then the concluding song is none other than 'Look for the Silver Lining,' which comes across as nothing more than a pure ironic capstone to an album whose mood has more in common with The Velvet Underground (album) than with any of its contemporaries. Gentle and sparing, yet with so much darkness hidden away underneath. A must-hear and one of the best albums of 1956.

Note: If you pick this up on CD reissue, you'll get some bonus tracks, none of which showcase the same brilliance, abandoning the smart song selection and going for warmer material like 'That Old Feeling' and 'My Buddy.' Nothing bad but it's apparent they selected the very best for inclusion on the original. The rest is a warm-up. With that small caveat, I repeat: one of the very best of 1956.

WHAT TICHARU SAYS

There is a lot to recommend this album. It's unique, especially in 1956, it's a destination all in itself is this record. It's a mood you didn't know you had, until you hear it, then the only way back is to play the album again.

The most immediate and somewhat shocking element is Baker's voice. He sings so precisely so deadpan, emotionless. He sounds like a boy who knows way too much but isn't letting on. Boyish... yeah but not like a choir boy...

Then there's the languid nature of this record, at its best when there's barely a discernible tempo, almost a disappointment when he picks the tempo up for a couple songs. Same with the instruments, it's a very sparse record. I found myself wanting more but the opposite of that really, I wanted more even slower songs with fewer instruments yet! At a certain point all you want is the voice.

But Chet Baker ain't no singer, he's a trumpet player! Blow that horn man! Here again it's absolutely laconic. If anything his playing is dusky? Is that possible? Can you make a trumpet sound dusky? Yes you can and it's great. Trumpets don't need to squawk and squeal and hurt your ears, amazingly they can be played with nuance, smoky and quiet, like you're going to a wake.

So what have we found here? One really cool record that's pretty obvious.