Home » Jazz Articles » Chet Baker
Jazz Articles about Chet Baker
Sex and The Single Trumpet Player
by S.G Provizer
Jack Sheldon (November 30, 1931) and Chet Baker (December 23, 1929-May 13, 1988)—two trumpeter/vocalists with a great deal in common. They spent their years of jazz apprenticeship, the early 1950's, on the West Coast, largely in Los Angeles. They played in similar styles and their musical career paths early on were pretty similar, although Baker got started recording earlier than Sheldon, recording more prolifically and making early waves playing with Gerry Mulligan's group. They played sessions and recorded with each ...
Continue ReadingChet Baker’s Singing: A Cultural Shift
by S.G Provizer
We think of the 1950's as a time of relative social conformity, but in fact, there were significant cultural shifts happening. For one, male stereotypes were being unpacked and to some degree, unfrozen. Where once films and music gave us male characters that were either hyper-macho or limp-wristedly homosexual, male characters and performers who showed emotional vulnerability began to emerge from the underground. Two musicians who were exemplars of this change were Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker. The ...
Continue ReadingLast Song for Valentine Part 4-4: My Funny Valentine
by Jakob Baekgaard
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The first thing Cory heard when he stumbled into Café Picasso was the familiar voice of his drummer, Pearl, getting into an argument with two other musicians. They were all laughing loudly, but he could tell by the tone that it was also serious. Pearl caught his eyes and exclaimed: “Cory! Just the man I need. Come on over here! These rookies are trying to school me ...
Continue ReadingChet Baker: Live In London Volume II
by Roger Farbey
Somewhat incredibly, these sessions from 1983 were recorded on a domestic audio cassette recorder. The John Horler Trio was employed to back Chet Baker on his six consecutive nights at The Canteen in London, a short-lived jazz venue in the heart of the City. Jim Richardson, bassist on these dates, gained Baker's permission to record these sessions and although the tapes were only intended for personal enjoyment, they have now been painstakingly restored for the benefit of everyone.
Continue ReadingChet Baker Sings
by Mark Barnett
Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule Trumpeter Chet Baker's singing still provokes debate. Some love it, others wish he'd saved his singing for the shower. Here's a chance to make up your own mind by sampling some of the best singing of Baker's early career, when the voice was fresh, the ideas new. Background We live in ...
Continue ReadingChet Baker: Boston, 1954
by Richard J Salvucci
Is there any reason to write anything more about Chet Baker? Stuff of legend, subject of multiple books, focus of a classic documentary: Surely, someone, somewhere hadn't written a doctoral dissertation on him in American studies. Great player, not so great person, or, whatever kind of person, not so great player. You sort of get to choose which Baker you want. Whether it's an idiotic greeting to pianist Romano Mussolini (did he really say: “Sorry about your old man")?; or ...
Continue ReadingChet Baker: Italian Movies
by Maurizio Zerbo
Jazz e cinema. Un connubio magnificamente documentato da questo confanetto, destinato ad attrarre l'interesse non solo dei fan di Chet Baker. C'è un gran lavoro dietro queste sei colonne sonore realizzate tra il 1958 ed il 1962 grazie alle splendide partiture di Piero Umiliani, tra pagine orchestrali di impianto rigorosamente jazz e raffinati ammiccamenti al pop. Oltre al solismo malinconico e trasognato di Baker, emerge superbamente il variopinto caleodoscopio del jazz italiano degli anni Sessanta. L'orchestra di ...
Continue Reading
