Chet Baker Sings And Plays CD

Personnel: Chet Baker (vocals, trumpet); Chet Baker ; Red Mitchell, Carson Smith (double bass); Corky Hale (harp); Edgar Lustgarten, Kurt Reher, Eleanor Slatkin, Ray Kramer (cello); Bud Shank (flute); Russ Freeman (piano); Bob Neel (drums).
Liner Note Author: Michael Cuscuna.
Recording information: Capitol Records, Los Angeles, CA (02/28/1955-03/07/1955); Western Recorders, Los Angeles, CA (02/28/1955-03/07/1955).
Photographer: William Claxton.
Arrangers: Johnny Mandel; Marty Paich; Frank Campo.
With the growing popularity of Chet Baker's first vocal album, Chet Baker Sings, Pacific Jazz producer Richard Bock wanted to capitalize on both facets of his young star's abilities. Hence, the trumpeter turned vocalist entered the studio in 1955 with both his quartet featuring pianist Russ Freeman and an expanded sextet including bassist Red Mitchell, Bud Shank on flute, and various string players. The resulting album, Chet Baker Sings and Plays, helped set in stone the image of Baker as the jazz world's matinee idol and icon of '50s West Coast cool. His laid-back style -- a mix of '30s crooner and Miles Davis' nonet recordings -- appealed in its immediacy to a jazz public tiring of the hyper, athletic musicality of bebop. Similarly, his plaintive, warm trumpet sound was the more sensitive antidote to such brassy kings as Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. Others artists had performed many of these standards before, but as with "My Funny Valentine" on Chet Baker Sings, tracks like "Let's Get Lost," "Long Ago and Far Away," and "Just Friends" became definitively associated with Baker for the rest of his career. Chet Baker Sings and Chet Baker Sings and Plays are not only the two most important albums of Baker's career, but are classics of jazz. [The 2004 EMI reissue of Chet Baker Sings and Plays includes an EP version of "Let's Get Lost" not included on the original album.] ~ Matt Collar
The stunning success of 1954's CHET BAKER SINGS ushered in a new phase for the trumpeter/vocalist; in addition to his precise, "cool" trumpet style, Baker's gauzy, guileless vocals were now an integral part of his persona and performance. A spate of vocal-centered recordings followed CHET BAKER SINGS, and one of the best of these is 1955's CHET BAKER SINGS AND PLAYS. While most of the session features Baker leading his ensemble (delivering an intimate, smoky nightclub feel), four of the 11 tracks flesh out the quartet's sound with flute (Bud Shank), harp (Corky Hale), and four cellists.
Though Baker's vocal albums alienated some of his hardcore jazz fans, there is little syrupy or sentimental about SINGS AND PLAYS, thanks in large part to tasteful arrangements by Marty Paich, Johnny Mandel, and Frank Campo. Standards like "Someone to Watch over Me" are light, spacious renditions, with Baker's vulnerable, breathy voice and equally evocative trumpet playing floating through the instrumentation like smoke. These sessions have the interesting distinction of featuring Baker singing and playing live (for larger group sessions, he often played live and overdubbed his vocals later). Like CHET BAKER SINGS, this is classic music--accessible, "cool," and highly romantic.