Chet Baker But Not For Me

The unforgettable Chet Baker Sings put Baker on the map not just as a brilliant trumpeter, but also as a talented vocalist. This album was a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear: Chet’s voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises.

The unforgettable Chet Baker Sings put Baker on the map not just as a brilliant trumpeter, but also as a talented vocalist. This album was a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear: Chet’s voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises.

The unforgettable Chet Baker Sings put Baker on the map not just as a brilliant trumpeter, but also as a talented vocalist. This album was a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear: Chet’s voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises.

Baker always sounded at his best when performing in a trio with guitar and bass. Guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean Louis Rassinfosse (both of whom had recorded with the trumpeter previously) are major assets to the subtle but swinging session. Each of the performances (Bob Zieff's "Sad Walk," Horace Silver's "Strollin'," "Love for Sale," "But Not for Me," and a 15-minute version of Richard Beirach's "Leaving") are extended versions but there are no rambling or wandering moments during this set of lyrical jazz.

2022 release from the acclaimed singer/songwriter. On My Ideal (A Tribute to Chet Baker Sings), Amos Lee reanimates the songs of Chet Baker. Working with material sourced from 1954's iconoclastic Chet Baker Sings, including "My Funny Valentine" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily," Lee and his well-oiled jazz quartet deliver 16 gorgeous recordings that are, at once, expansive and understated, intimate and ambient-the perfect soundtrack for gatherings of every variety.

This 45-minute disc of primordial Chet Baker rarities shares its name with a companion volume of William Claxton's timeless photographs. The book visually preserves Baker and company during many of the same recording sessions heard on this release. The two presented here - produced by Dick Bock in Los Angeles during the early to mid-'50s - are the subject of some debate. The first date was originally recorded with the intent for Baker to add lead vocals, which he ultimately did. However, to get the most mileage out of the tapes, producer Bock re-released the same recordings three years later on the Pretty/Groovy album as instrumentals by substituting Baker's vocals with a lead tenor sax, performed by Bill Perkins…

Tracks 1-6 recorded at the Paris Festival, November 3, 1981. Tracks 7-8 recorded at Le Dreher club, June 1980. Featured Aldo Romano (bass), Pierre Michelot (drums), René Urtreger (piano).
A tragic figure with immense talent, both in his silvery fingered trumpet playing and his wonderfully soft and heartfelt voice. Chet Baker was a primary exponent of the West Coast school of cool jazz in the early and mid-'50s. As a trumpeter, he had a generally restrained, intimate playing style and he attracted attention beyond jazz for his photogenic looks and singing. But his career was marred by drug addiction. Baker's drug addiction caused him to lead a disorganized and peripatetic life, his constant need for cash requiring him to accept many ill-advised recording offers, while his undependability prevented him from making long-term commitments to record labels…

Recorded in stereo by Radio France at La Esplanade de La Défense (July 17, 1983) and Le Petit Opportun (February 7, 1984). Both concerts are distinguished by the dazzling playing of the virtuosic pianist Michel Graillier, who performed regularly with Baker’s combos from 1977 until Baker’s death in 1988.