MUSIC HOUND JAZZ
Chet Baker during his heydey.
"Chet Baker, with his neatly boxed pompadour and baby-face handsomeness, was short, introverted and intense; he was a natural, creative in any key, (had) exceptional ears (and) liked to play with the mike against the bell of his trumpet, which he occasionally put aside to croon a song in a girlishly attenuated voice." CD reflects musician’s
morose life"Deep in a Dream: The Ultimate Chet Baker Collection"
Chet Baker (Pacific Jazz/Capitol)By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.comThis description by Gary Giddins in his "Visions of Jazz" book sums up the influential appeal this musician has held long after his mysterious, possibly drug-related death in Amsterdam years ago. Baker's look and sound helped epitomize the white, "cool" era of the music back in the '50s.
Previously the focus of a loving documentary, "Let's Get Lost," by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, Baker is also the subject of a recent biography by James Gavin, from which this "ultimate" collection derives its title.
A 19-track CD, "Deep in a Dream," is meant as an aural complement to Gavin's book (he also wrote the liner notes), and is an effective introduction to the "man with a trumpet."
The music presented here covers highlights of Baker's music, from his initial splash as a member of Gerry Mulligan's jazz group to a curious 1959 Italian session that pitted his horn and voice with a nearly saccharine string orchestra, to a couple of early-'60s tracks when he was well into his drug addiction, giving his music an added poignancy.
It was hard to imagine then that his ravaged and creased visage was once movie-star handsome, but his tumultuous private life seemed as black-and-white as the music was back then. Baker was heavily influenced by the early sound of Miles Davis. It's just that only he, along with Mulligan, was able to take Davis' cool sound to a larger, white audience, leaving Davis to mumble bitter racial remarks as he was left behind.
PACIFIC JAZZ
Chet Baker after drugs took their toll.
While Davis conquered his own drug devils, lengthening both his life and career by heralding in the electric fusion sound, Baker seemed to be doomed to a tragic (albeit a romantically viewed) life. Thankfully, there's enough musical variation on this compilation to prevent you from feeling too morose.
Baker's quick-witted trumpet playing is best heard on a couple of early tracks with Mulligan's group, "Aren't You Glad You're You?" and "This Time the Dream's on Me." Two tracks -- the slightly abstract and unusually voiced "Ponder" and "A Night on Bop Mountain," with the inclusion of the tone-pitch bamboo drums called boobams -- from the late '50s show a more adventurous Baker. "Alone Together," performed with an all-star backup band in 1958, also features baritone sax player Pepper Adams matching Baker's mood note for note.
But it's a sad, spare and naked tone that made Baker's reputation. Both his trumpet playing and androgynous singing voice seemed to have a direct link to his melancholy soul. You can hear it on his renditions of "The Thrill Is Gone," "Little Girl Blue" and a particularly fine vocal on "Whatever Possess'd Me," a Tadd Dameron-arranged song from 1964.
His work with pianist Russ Freeman was particularly noteworthy, bringing a bit of welcome light to Baker's moodiness. A rare take on the gently swinging "Let's Get Lost" and a particularly poignant "Summer Sketch" are two more examples from the compilation that make one hunger for more Baker-Freeman collaborations.
Besides a couple of previously unissued short, vocal-only takes of "Blue Room" and "Spring Is Here," the vocal highlight of the CD is "You Don't Know What Love Is." It starts off with his closely miked voice with Freeman's backing, sounding sadly romantic. After reiterating that sentiment on trumpet with the rest of the band, Baker's voice returns for the last verse with only piano, and quietly and emphatically flattens out his delivery of the title line, sounding both resigned and devastated by heartbreak.
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