Chet Baker -- let's get talking

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Heard about him via reports on that Bruce Weber documentary towards the end of his life -- knew he was a trumpeter and sang, knew he was also ravaged by god knows how many drugs. But that's about it, really. Caught an occasional reference here and there (and only recently learned that was him on "Shipbuilding," or at least one version of it).

Found James Gavin's Deep in a Dream bio that came out this year at the library -- read it this week and loved it. Brutally unsentimental on the one hand, sharp and considerate when it came to evaluating his talent on the other. There's no question, absolutely no question, that the man was just plain trouble, to himself and others, and the details of his heroin addiction over the years ranges from the disturbing to the revolting. But by the end of it I knew I had to finally hear some music, and since Gavin had also put together a single disc comp by the same title, I went out and got it tonight and am currently giving it an ear.

The advantage of something like this collection, drawing as it does from over fourteen or so years of recordings from the fifties through the sixties, is that Gavin has sequenced and chosen things well, I'd guess. It feels of a piece even though it obviously isn't, so kudos on that front. But hearing him now finally -- the ILM-approved "My Funny Valentine," both in the instrumental and in a vocal take, "Let's Get Lost," "Deep in a Dream," "Summer Sketch," etc. -- is the most important thing. Don't know my jazz history well enough to understand or appreciate the comparisons/slams to other performers at the time of his fame (though I can sense how Miles was annoyed at all the hype). But his playing certainly can be something, yet it's the singing that made me stop in wonder -- among other turns, there are two a cappella tracks included that had never surfaced before, "Blue Room" and "Spring Is Here," and both were worth the purchase alone. I can see why, as the bio explained, he was such an influence on later Brazilian performers in the sixties and afterwards.

A quick check in the archives noted a variety of mentions of him here and there, but no thread as yet. He seems like he could be one of those people talked about on these boards in a variety of ways, as jazz artist, as figure of cool, as offhand vocal seducer. And the end of "My Funny Valentine" alone, where everything extends and fades in a way I almost felt could have been recorded by any number of acts just this year, is one of those moments that just seizes you out of the blue. I am interested in your thoughts...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 8 December 2002 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the vocal stuff a lot more than the instrumental stuff. But I like both quite a bit. If you don't have it, Let's Get Lost: The Best of Chet Baker Sings is a great compilation of his best vocal performances, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Let's Get Lost", as well as my favorite, "The Thrill Is Gone". I just wish he had done a vocal version of "Lush Life" before he died.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Sunday, 8 December 2002 05:14 (twenty-two years ago)

as much as I like what I have heard of chet baker, I don;t think he could top johnny hartman and john coltrane's version of lush life.

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Sunday, 8 December 2002 05:15 (twenty-two years ago)

No one has yet, certainly, but if anyone could, it would've been Chet.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Sunday, 8 December 2002 05:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I like his Like someone in love who Björk laer cover3ed on her first album.

― Jens (brighter), Sunday, 8 December 2002 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

James Gavin wouldn't know Chet Baker if he bit him on the shoulder. If Chet bit James that is. More later....

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 8 December 2002 10:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The Deep in a Dream CD is, however, OTM, more later.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 8 December 2002 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

On the basis of one comp, I don't think he's much of a vocalist, although being a Sinatraphile means by law I have to hate any other male who tries to sing standards. Fine player, but yeah, not Miles. Question: is his worth, like that of so many others, inflated by the tragedy of his life? Supplementary question: is this such a bad thing?

Oh yeah, and Bruce Weber rules.

― B.Rad (Brad), Sunday, 8 December 2002 11:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a big fan, but I haven't got Deep In A Dream. Some of the 70s stuff, like She Was Too Good To Me, is pretty bad. The "lost memoir", As Though I Had Wings, is also worth reading, though very short-Chet writes like an excited and impressionable child, which somehow fits. Anyone know if he ever did a vocal version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow? Now that, I'd like to hear.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Sunday, 8 December 2002 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

In fact, speaking of Somewhere Over The Rainbow (and I apologize to the thread for going off on a tangent), does anyone know where I can get a copy of the Finnish version that plays over the end of Aki Kaurismaki's "Ariel"? I've been looking for it for years.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Sunday, 8 December 2002 11:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I really want to hear why Mary is hating Gavin!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 8 December 2002 15:49 (twenty-two years ago)

hey,HEY! lest we should forget this intriguing issuette -- Chet's "Rainbow"!!? any certificate-snippet of its birth?

― t\'\'t (t''t), Sunday, 8 December 2002 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Hi Ned, well I *really* heart Chet, and the day before we saw Morrissey in Berkeley my sister got us tix to this Chetacular at the Castro Theatre in SF; well Gavin was there promoting his book (which I haven't read, I'll add) but I just found him very self-serving and self-promotional and it was just a bit ugh considering the topic, plus, what he did have to say just wasn't that interesting, plus I just felt he didn't really know anything about Chet, he seemed to have no *soul* just existing to rape the ghost of Chet for his own whatever, that said, the DIAD comp. that he put together is supergreat, so maybe he does feel Chet afterall. Also, he writes for GQ, just seems like an oh no! New York Writer...I just wouldn't trust him Ned! Oh! But the best part of the evening was this showing of this short film that was made in Paris very shortly before Chet's death; oh that film was good! B&W. It was wonderful.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 8 December 2002 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

There is a certain creep-out element to Chet Baker's singing that was played up by the Matt Damon character singing "My Funny Valentine" in The Talent Mr. Ripley. There's more to it than simply hearing a grown man sound like a girlish boy. I think it's a comination of Chet's stunning good looks (and fashion sense, which add to the impression by so closely pre-figuring 80s casual designer styles), and his heroin addiction and its brutal destructiveness. Hearing those songs about the impermanence of love and beauty sung in that undisturbed fey voice, I can't help but think he's serenading his own gift of beauty.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 8 December 2002 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Next to "Valentine", I like "I Fall in Love Too Easily", including the nice trumpet and piano solos. The more saccarine songs, expecially "My Buddy", just give me the creeps.

― Curt (cgould), Sunday, 8 December 2002 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I LOVE the bit inb 'DiaD' where he sacks the rest of the band in disgust calling them 'mama's boys' because they won't help him drag a dead body out of a hotel room!

― dave q, Sunday, 8 December 2002 18:47 (twenty-two years ago)

curt - m.damon imitating anyone's singing would be creepy, let's not get carried away.

i haven't read gavin's book either but i will eventually. bit wary of the way reviewers keep calling it "controversial" despite its almost uniformly good press, and "de-mythologizing" despite the fact that gavin's stated agenda of beauty-from-ugliness "gutter junkie" portraiture IS the story already, however 'richly detailed' his version may be. i'm also curious to see what kind of case he makes for cb musically, if any - reviews like this one suggest that the dirt-dishing approach is so open-ended it can accomodate and confirm any firmly-held opinion.

― jones (actual), Sunday, 8 December 2002 20:03 (twenty-two years ago)

pick up "chet baker sings and plays from the film 'let's get lost' ". one could argue that his voice was gone by this point, but i think it sounds so much richer and more alive than a lot of his earlier output. the almost obscene suppleness of the young chet's voice is gone, and it's quite interesting to listen to the versions of his standards on this record and compare them with ones done decades previously. it's pure emotion, rather than an otherwordly vocal coming down from a jazzy, soft-focus heaven - one of those records that makes me feel as if i've got the performer sitting on the sofa with me

― lauren, Sunday, 8 December 2002 20:33 (twenty-two years ago)

it makes me feel like i can't see the other end of the sofa because the bass-player is sitting on my lap

― jones (actual), Sunday, 8 December 2002 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Heh, so you read it too, Dave Q? Yeah, that was fairly OTT!

which I haven't read, I'll add

Ah, now see Mary, set aside your bias, find a library copy or borrow a friend's and read away. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! He mentions the French film among other things.

i'm also curious to see what kind of case he makes for cb musically, if any

Though I'm not sensing much in the way of detailed technical knowledge from him, Gavin's approach generally speaking acknowledges much of the negative criticism on that front but states a case for both specific songs and specific versions of songs as being real winners (something I'd guess the CD does as well, but since I'm not approaching from a background of knowing his material on a vaster scale I can't say). You can argue the whole book is open-ended but on a more generous note I'd say instead it makes it clear that Baker could be charming and had a definite talent and yet went through all the layers of hell and dragged more than a few people with him. The study of Baker's family with his third wife Carol alone is pitiless -- I think Gavin is sharp enough to recognize and play up, sometimes subtly and and other points more obviously, how the whole 'on the road'/James Dean loner ethos Baker inherited/had placed upon him meant that being a family man was never ever going to work out.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 8 December 2002 21:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Gavin Brown wouldn't know any of the layers of hell if he was immersed in them, which I think he def. is!

Chet was a cute little boy. Gavin showed us pictures of him as a youth in Oklahoma.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 8 December 2002 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

gavin brown = james gavin or are we talking about different people?

― jones (actual), Sunday, 8 December 2002 22:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Oops, sorry, make that James Gavin wouldn't know any of the layers of hell, etc. etc.

― Mary (Mary), Sunday, 8 December 2002 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

*bows* Look, maybe Gavin deserves nothing but red hot flaming death when it comes to him as a person. I'm still thinking he captured a more than slightly unsettling story nonetheless in often horrifying detail.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 8 December 2002 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

probably the only voice besides billie holiday (esp. her last recordings) which can really break my heart. there is this boyish innocence in his voice which makes a strange contrast to his heroin addiction. somehow i always have to think he paid for his angelic voice with his messed up life. the film let's get lost is extremely touching. Chet (on which he doesn't sing) seems to be his stand-out album. his trumpet sounds very different from miles. warm and impressionistic.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 9 December 2002 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, the 'Chet' alb from '59 is the one I like best - not only does it have one of the most gorgeous/romantic rec covers of all time, it also has Baker playing w/ an esp. gd group - Pepper Adams on baritone, Bill Evans on piano, Kenny Burrell on gtr, Paul Chambers on bass, Connie Kay and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 9 December 2002 15:06 (twenty-two years ago)

What makes the contrast between Chet's angelic voice and hellish life so acute and heartbeaking, I feel, is the music's slowness, like time standing still.

― Curt (cgould), Monday, 9 December 2002 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

If you can find the Italian Movies album bootleg, snap it up! As for the vocal stuff, I love Old Devil Moon - he has a kind of Chris Montez appeal, I reckon...

― Jez (Jez), Tuesday, 10 December 2002 09:47 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

i borrowed in a soulful mood off a friend recently,but haven't quite got into it yet...
how representative of his other stuff is it?
the allmusic guide is fairly down on it
it seems quite nice,but nothing special,but i wouldn't want to judge him on it if it isn't considered among his best...

― robin (robin), Monday, 24 March 2003 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

the terry riley tape delay stuff is fucking amazing. chet performs live and terry riley fucks with it. it is mindmeltingly good.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 24 March 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

the 'terry riley tape dealy stuff' seconded

(altho i've only heard the excerpt that's on ver vire's 3cd box, to be honest)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:07 (twenty-two years ago)

did terry riley do a piece of music called mescalin mix,or something along those lines?
early electronic composer?
from around the fifties?
if its the person i'm thinking of,i'm intrigued to say the least...

― robin (robin), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, same guy. 60's actually. its on a disc called Music for the Gift.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:29 (twenty-two years ago)

and mescalin mix is on the same disc!

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

nice one
is it some sort of compilation?
the problem with these people is i never know where to start...
there was a talk given by an irish composer called donnacha dennelly as part of the dublin electronic arts festival in which he played a few pieces of early electronic music,and mescalin mix was the one that stood out...

― robin (robin), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:44 (twenty-two years ago)

its sort of a comp of earlyish stuff by Riley. its a pretty good place to start in that chets there, so you get something to hang yer hat on straight away. plus if you already like mescalin mix! also has some other good stuff on it. check the AMG review.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:49 (twenty-two years ago)

cool,i must try and track it down (or at least add it to the list taller than me of music i've said that about...)
cheers!

― robin (robin), Monday, 24 March 2003 23:58 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...

What? Chet Baker and Terry Riley. I hardly ever get shocked by any artists and genres being combined in some way, but what is this? What? I need to go back and read this.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 17 May 2003 17:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuck ILM for reinforcing my music obsessive tendencies.

― Rockist Scientist, Saturday, 17 May 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

i was actually having a look for terry riley stuff today,still haven't found anything by him

― robin (robin), Saturday, 17 May 2003 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

forced exposure i'd guess...if not drop me a line.

― gaz (gaz), Sunday, 18 May 2003 08:31 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

bump.

gaz, I need that too.

― adaml (adaml), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:31 (twenty-one years ago)

uh? theres a track on the mix i sent you.

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i managed to get an mp3 called music for the gift,dunno if it is the title track of the album or just one of the tracks from it,but i really like it...

― robin (robin), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

My favourite Chet vocal is "Someone to Watch Over Me", with a lovely flute backing.

― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

six months pass...

What do people think of Let's Got Lost (the movie, that is)?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 1 May 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

its about a decade i've seen this movie. i liked it, though it was kinda hurting to see a wrecked chet exposed to the camera. if you liked webers movie take also a look on the photobook Young Chet with pics by William Claxton.

chet did the saddest song ever: "you don't know what love is"
&
my alltime fave version of "i remember you". other versions...
listenable: Cassandra Wilson, Four Freshmen
instrumentals: Cal Tjader, Gene Ammons, Charlie Byrd
recommendable: Slim Whitman, James Caan (in 'Funny Lady'/1975 i think) George Michael, Diana Krall, Bjork
obscure: Frank Ifield (Slim Whitman goes german)

btw, i missed his very last concert because of my gf. both are gone now and i still wonder if my choice was right :P

― eleki-san (eleki-san), Monday, 3 May 2004 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

How can one mna be so fcukign godo?

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

ti a godo qeutsoin

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

hye hye hye

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

Adam you drunk.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

the Weber film is newly revived in NYC.

http://www.filmforum.org/films/letsgetlost.html

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 15 June 2007 16:17 (eighteen years ago)

man that is a great movie

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 15 June 2007 16:47 (eighteen years ago)

was recently eyeing a battered used LP of "Concierto," a 70s live record by Jim Hall that has Chet (and Ron Carter!) on it ... Anybody heard it? Any good? I haven't seen the movie, but I assume since it's getting this theatrical re-release that a DVD will be forthcoming? Sounds good anyway. The Baker bio is great if you want to find out what an enormous asshole the guy was. But it didn't ruin the music for me, surprisingly enough.

― tylerw, Friday, 15 June 2007 17:23 (eighteen years ago)

oops guess it isn't a live record after all. but anyway...

― tylerw, Friday, 15 June 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)

"Concierto" is fucking BRILLIANT

― admrl, Friday, 15 June 2007 20:09 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

Old news, but William Claxton is dead.

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 14 October 2008 01:16 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

Chet Baker is now the plaintiff in one of the biggest copyright infringement lawsuits in Canadian history, years after his death:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/735096--geist-record-industry-faces-liability-over-infringement

― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 14:10 (fifteen years ago)

http://www.als.tue.bw.schule.de/service/quizseiten/tiere/aasgeier.jpg

― meisenfek, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 14:46 (fifteen years ago)

"But Not for Me" from Best of Chet Baker Sings is crazy sexy cool.

― Jazzbo, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 14:55 (fifteen years ago)

"Concierto" is fucking BRILLIANT
It is! Was just listening to it this weekend.

― tylerw, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 15:40 (fifteen years ago)

seven months pass...

The one Chet Baker thread!

― Mark, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 04:33 (fifteen years ago)

two months pass...

let's get lost was terrific. i like weber a lot & this had more depth and none of the creepy fetishistic feel of the boxing one he did or chop suey imo

― johnny crunch, Saturday, 25 September 2010 22:02 (fifteen years ago)

love Let's Get Lost. Chet Baker was such a rascal.

― mmmm, Saturday, 25 September 2010 22:45 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

This is the only christmas album you need to own, well it is the only one allowed in my house.

http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/GZgazlHjpGc/mqdefault.jpg

― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Friday, 6 December 2013 21:51 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

I'm surprised by how well regarded Let's Get Lost is. Rarely has a film about a musician I admire left me angrier. It was like watching a two-hour long director's cut of the "Wicked Game" video. I get the feeling Weber zeroed in on Chet not for his music, but for the (extremely boring) narrative of the 'tragic junkie with good cheekbones.' The fact that Weber's claim to fame is Calvin Klein ads is obvious from the first frame. Thought this film was a disgrace, tbh.

I feel like you get a far better sense of Chet the player and the man from the film Candy, shot at the Sonet library in Sweden in '85. Not only does it feature some of Chet's best playing (with great accompaniment, too), but the awkwardly mundane interviews with Red Mitchell are somehow far more revealing of the man's humanity than any of the stark black and white shots of "Chet being beautiful" in Let's Get Lost. Can someone -- preferably a Chet Baker fan -- please explain the appeal of this film?

― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Sunday, 18 January 2015 18:52 (ten years ago)

I dunno chet's p obviously a tragic figure, i dont fault the film for running w that.

― Οὖτις, Monday, 19 January 2015 03:45 (ten years ago)

seven months pass...

Is Born to Be Blue any good?

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 17 September 2015 21:03 (ten years ago)

two years pass...

Listening to 1976's You Can't Go Home Again because I learned it contains Paul Desmond's final recordings. Weird album, lots of kind of ugly fusion keyboards contrasting against some really beautiful playing. Desmond's solo on the title track is wonderful.

― Evan R, Tuesday, 3 April 2018 16:16 (seven years ago)

two years pass...

https://chetbaker.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-london

Sounds amazing for a recording made on a small cassette recorder sitting on stage.

― Joe Bombin (milo z), Sunday, 21 March 2021 05:49 (four years ago)

one year passes...

Listening to Diane a lot at the moment - a late duo album Baker recorded in Denmark with Paul Bley. It's pretty sparse but both Baker and Bley sound right *there*. And damn do I want to lie in the spaces in between.

― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 14 November 2022 21:49 (two years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2VLa3RP0w4

― Shard-borne Beatles with their drowsy hums (Chinaski), Monday, 14 November 2022 21:56 (two years ago)

that sounds great — haven't heard this one.

― tylerw, Monday, 14 November 2022 23:53 (two years ago)

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