Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jeff Baker: Baker Sings Chet

121

Jeff Baker: Baker Sings Chet

By

View read count
Jeff Baker: Baker Sings Chet


Jeff Baker is a Boise, Idaho native with a New York state of mind. His debut recording, Baker sings Chet, pays tribute less to Chet than to the music the late vocalist made his own. Jeff Baker has a beautifully smooth and confident vocal style that would sound appealing singing polka music. Backing Mr. Baker is an exquisite septet that sounds damn near like a big band. This swinging little-big unit tears it up with pithy and intelligently arranged renditions of the Chet Baker songbook that downright refreshes the music.



Baker shares the limelight with all of the band members. Alto saxophonist Brent Jensen turns in a bona fide West Coast solo on "How Deep is the Ocean." Tenor player Sandon Mayhew shows up on "The Touch of Your Lips," along with bassist Jeff Rew, whose solo is short and to the point. The showstopper of the disc is an almost bulldozer abstract "But Not For Me," a Gershwin classic taken at a breakneck pace, featuring Jensen on alto followed by Rob Walker's flugelhorn, which gives way to Baker's own deft scatting. The watershed "My Funny Valentine" is given an airy, dreaming treatment, with Baker's own timbre approaching that of Chet Baker's flat affect.



The sum of the parts of this recording is definitely greater than the whole. I recommend this recording without reservation. Jeff Baker is an important emerging new talent.



For more information, visit OA2 Records and Jeff Baker on the web.

Track Listing

How Deep Is The Ocean?; The Touch Of Your Lips; I Get Along Without You; My Ideal; But Not For Me; Oh You Crazy Moon; The Thrill Is Gone; Let's Get Lost; My Funny Valentine; Easy Living; Medley: Autumn In New York / September Song; Everything Depends On You.

Personnel

Jeff Baker
vocals

Jeff Baker: vocals; Chuck Smith: piano; Jeff Rew: bBass; Steve Hill: drums; Brent Jensen: alto saxophone; Rob Walker: trumpet and flugelhorn; Sandon Mayhew: tenor saxophone; Stan Bock: trombone.

Album information

Title: Baker Sings Chet | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: OA2 Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.