@Bobthebuilder and @Ian
Thanks for the suggestion, will play these this evening
DG…
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Chet’s life took on that of a drug addict more than a Jazz player arrests and hospital stays where followed by a vicious beating never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story Chet had various versions of the event involving different characters and places but needless to say he had upset someone enough to get his teeth kicked in so badly it effected his ability to play.
Several awful recordings Alberts House on Beverly Hills and Blood Chet & Tears a terrible collection of Blood Sweat & Tears on Verve Records where followed by a live recording of the Gerry Mulligan reunion in Carnegie Hall in 1974 released in two volumes in 1975. Chet always bemoaned the fact that Mulligan was given top billing but in truth he deserved it.
Then a bit of a return to form came on She Was Too Good To Me on Creed Taylor’s CTI Records featuring an all star cast Herbert Laws, Paul Desmond, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd and Jack DeJohnette the recording was arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky recorded in 74. The record was kind to Chet in as much as it framed him in his best light in a setting that was both familiar and kind old classics like Irvine Berlin’s ‘What’ll I Do’ and Rogers & Hart’s ‘With aa Song In My Hearts’ where perfect for Chet and though the sales where not great fans and critics thought it a first and tentative comeback.
Paul Nelson in The Village Voice wrote,
" He has almost no voice - it’s all silences, slides, whispers, yearning in it’s purest form - but his phrasing can be superb, the romantic impact devastating."
When the cover photos arrived on Creed Taylor’s desk he was so alarmed at the sight of Chet he refused to use them for the album Snyder the photographer argued for them to be kept,
“Chet looked so dissolute it was shocking, I argued for keeping it like it was, because to me it looked like an Okie, The Grapes of Wrath, that’s who he was.”
But an abstract painting was used for the cover instead.
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Chet Baker - She Was Too Good To Me, CTI Records (1974)
Tracklist
A1 Autumn Leaves 7:05
A2 She Was Too Good To Me 4:39
A3 Funk In Deep Freeze
Soloist [Flute Solo] – Hubert Laws
6:06
B1 Tangerine 5:29
B2 With A Song In My Heart 4:03
B3 What’ll I Do 4:00
B4 It’s You Or No One 4:28
Alto Flute, Oboe d’Amore – George Marge
Alto Saxophone – Paul Desmond
Arranged By, Conductor – Don Sebesky
Bass – Ron Carter
Cello – George Ricci, Jesse Levy, Warren Lash
Drums – Jack DeJohnette (tracks: B2 to B4), Steve Gadd (tracks: A1 to B1)
Electric Piano – Bob James
Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder
Flute, Alto Flute – Hubert Laws
Flute, Clarinet – Romeo Penque
Trumpet, Vocals – Chet Baker
Vibraphone – Dave Friedman
Violin – Barry Finclair, David Nadien, Emanuel Green, Harold Kohon, Harry Glickman, Herbert Sorkin, Lewis Eley, Max Ellen, Paul-Gershman.
Recorded at Van Gelder Studios in November 1974.
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In particular What’ll I Do sums up Chet perfectly from this period, visually and in the flesh he looked like the kind of middle aged Heroin addict you walk past any day on any city street around the world as the photographer put it he looked like a character from the Steinbeck’s Great Depression classic the Grapes of Wrath.
But even then he was capable of the most heartbreakingly beautiful vocals, even his playing at only a fraction of what he had been capable of can still hold me captivated not everyone’s cup of tea I know but to me just beautiful.
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After She Was Too Good To Me between 1974-77 Chet based himself in New York playing literally hundreds of 50 dollar gigs in tiny, smokey clubs honing his craft again the smaller, more intimate the venue the better he liked it. Backed by a revolving group of young and old musicians including Harold Danko, Ed Byrne, Dave Shapiro, Jimmy Madison and Roger Rosenberg based at Strykers Night Club Chet taught the musicians to play his way slower and softer the exact opposite of most what most of the Cities Jazzmen where playing. Few who heard his quiet, dreamlike version of the The Thrill is Gone around this time forget it.
Surprisingly Chet was staying off of the Heroin substituting it with daily doses of prescribed methadone and nightly doses of unprescribed cocaine the crowd who he surrounded himself with both musicians, woman and fans where always happy to indulge him. Even so Chet never really felt at home in America he had been playing the odd festival in Europe and still felt more accepted and loved there. His last ditched attempt at breaking the U.S market was on major label A&M’s new Jazz subsidiary Horizon Don Sebesky was brought in to try and drag Chet into the Jazz fusion scene the result, 1977’s ‘You Can’t Go Home Again’ backed by some quite big stars John Scofield, Herbert Laws, Michael Brecker and Miles’ old drummer Tony Williams the result was predictable in my view a soulless sounding Chet superimposed onto an electric jazz fusion background.
Chet moved permanently back to Europe via Germany and his predictable relapse onto Heroin followed. The next decade would see him in my and many fan’s opinions record and play some of his finest music although the critics didn’t always agree.
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Chet’s first recording in Europe was 1977’s ’ The Incredible Chet Baker Plays and Sings on Italian label Carosello on it he duets with his latest girlfriend and amateur Jazz singer Ruth Young.
Chet Baker Sextet - The Incredible Chet Baker Plays and Sings, Carosello CLN25075 (1977)
Tracklist
A1. Autumn Leaves - Written-By – Joseph-Kosma)
A2. Sad Walk - Written-By – Bob Zieff
A3. Highblown - Written-By – Bruce Thomas
A4. Laura - Written-By – D. Raskin
B1.Love Vibration - Written-By – Horace Silver
B2. Whatever Possessed Me - Written-By – Tadd Dameron
B3. I Waited For You - Written-By – Gil Fuller
Bass – Lucio Terzano
Drums – Giancarlo Pillot
Flute, Soprano Saxophone – Jacques Pelzer
Piano – Bruce Thomas
Tenor Saxophone – Gianni Basso
Trumpet, Producer, Arranged By – Chet Baker
Vocals – Chet Baker (tracks: A1 and B2), Ruth Young (tracks: A1 and B2)
Recorded in March 1977 at CAP STUDIO, Milan, Italy.
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When Jack Sheldon, another trumpeter, saw Chet after an interval of a few years, he couldn’t hide his shock at how much his face had changed. “They’re just laughter lines” was Chet’s attempt to play it down. Sheldon responded, “Chet, nothing’s that funny.”
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Both Chet and Art Pepper must have had Keith Richards type constitutions to have kept up that level of addiction for 30+ years.
When the Dutch policeman found Chet’s body on the pavement outside that hotel in Amsterdam he said it was a male in his 30’s because his body looked so fit. Obviously after falling from that height the blood and facial injuries where such that he couldn’t be identified right away.
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Recorded in Stockholm in 1983
Stan Getz was jealous of Chet (look at his face !) as he was getting a lot of attention in this period.
I am pretty sure I saw a video where, once the set was finished Getz just walked off, ignoring Chet Baker.
Stan Getz (s)
Chet Baker (t)
Jim McNeely (p)
George Mraz (b)
Victor Lewis (d)
Available on 3 x CD & Qobuz
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On December 28th 1978 Chet went into the Studio Davout, Paris to record Broken Wing with the excellent pianist Phil Markowitz, the title track had been written for Chet by his old band mate/student pianist Richard Beirach back in New York.
The tracks chosen for the recording session where sympathetic of course and included a rarity a Chet Baker composition Blue Gilles named for the record’s producer Gilles Gautherin the recording would set the tone for most of his work thereafter both brilliant and mediocre and often within the same song.
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Chet Baker - Broken Wing, Sonopresse (1979)
Tracklist
A1. Broken Wing - Written-By Richard Beirach
A2. Oh You Crazy Moon - Written-By Burke & Van Heusen
A3. Black Eyes - Written-By Wayne Shorter
B1. Blue Gilles - Written-By Chet Baker
B2. How Deep Is The Ocean - Written-By Irving Berlin
- Bass – Jean-François Jenny Clark*
- Drums – Jeff Brillinger
- Photography By – J.-P. Leloir*
- Piano – Phil Markowitz
- Supervised By – Gilles Gautherin
- Trumpet – Chet Baker
- Vocals – Chet Baker (tracks: A2)
Recorded in Paris the 28th December, 1978
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Chet toured Europe constantly playing in France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Austria to packed clubs and concert halls his fans loved him and continental Europe unlike the U.S was in love with Jazz. The young Jazz heads throughout Europe especially the musicians where enamoured with him and flocked to hear and better still play with him.
The 21 year old German vibraphonist and composer Wolfgang Lackerschmid was writing and playing ambient music long before the genre had a name he and Chet hit it off instantly his soft, quiet sound suited Chet perfectly and they recorded the beautiful ’ Ballads for Two ’ in just two sessions on the 8th and 9th of January 1979 at the Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik, Stuttgart, W.-Germany.
The collection of Lackerschmid compositions along with Kenny Dorham’s ‘Blue Bossa’, Standards 'Softly As The Morning Sunrise, You Don’t Know What Love is and Dessert written by both musicians was an incredible session and turning point for Chet.
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Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Chet Baker - Ballads for Two, Dot Records DT8556 (2020)
Tracklist
| A1 | Blue Bossa | 3:49 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | Five Years Ago | 3:36 | |
| A3 | Why Shouldn’t You Cry | 4:40 | |
| A4 | You Don’t Know What Love Is | 7:53 | |
| B1 | Softly As In A Morning Sunrise | 6:07 | |
| B2 | Waltz For Susan | 3:51 | |
| B3 | Double O | 6:00 | |
| B4 | Why Shouldn’t You Cry (Muted Trumpet Version) | 4:34 |
Trumpet – Chet Baker
Vibraphone – Wolfgang Lackerschmid
Recorded on 8th and 9th January 1979, Tonstudio Zuckerfabrik, Stuttgart, W.-Germany
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1979 was a busy year for Chet a couple of months after the Ballads for Two recording Chet played at
Onkel Pö’s Carnegie Hall in Hamburg the concert was recorded for NDR ( Norddeutscher Rundfunk).
Journalist Rene Magron wrote a review on the concert and said that the room was packed to capacity and that the audience where all on the edge of their seats, staring intently at the
‘skinny, sickly looking man on the stage, who played with his head bowed and his eyes closed behind large, tortoiseshell glasses’.
The music ’ Went right into the centre of the audiences hearts,’ wrote Magron, ‘I see it on their faces
everyone is feeling it… It’s a broken, lonely, but at the same time endlessly sweet and emotional sound.’ Chet still had that hold over his audience.
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Chet Baker - At Onkel Pö’s Carnegie Hall Hamburg 1979, NDR Info (2017)
Tracklist
| A | Love For Sale | 18:07 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | You Can’t Go Home Again | 13:26 | |
| B2 | There’ll Never Be Another You | 16:30 | |
| C | Black Eyes | 27:51 | |
| D | Broken Wing | 23:44 |
Bass – Jean Louis Rassinfosse
Drums – Charlie Rice
Piano – Phil Markowitz
Trumpet, Vocals – Chet Baker
Recorded April 2nd, 1979 at Onkel Pö’s Carnegie Hall, Hamburg, Germany
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Had another listen to this one yesterday afternoon, recorded in Italy in 1976 at the ‘Brass Club’
- Solar
- There will never be another you
- Milestones
- My Funny Valentine
- But not for me
- I Can’t get started
- Blue ‘n’ Boogie / Buzzy
Worth a listen!
Chet Baker Quartet
Chet Baker (t) (voc)
Enzo Randisi (p)
Giovanni Tommaso (b)
Gianni Cavallaro (d)
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