The Best of Chet Baker Sings Tracks
1. Thrill Is Gone
2. But Not for Me
3. Time After Time
4. I Get Along Without You Very Well
5. There Will Never Be Another You
6. Look for the Silver Lining
7. My Funny Valentine
8. I Fall in Love Too Easily
9. Daybreak
10. Just Friends
11. I Remember You
12. Let's Get Lost
13. Long Ago (And Far Away)
14. You Don't Know What Love Is
15. That Old Feeling
16. It's Always You
17. I've Never Been in Love Before
18. My Buddy
19. Like Someone in Love
20. My Ideal
The Best of Chet Baker Sings Review
Once Chet Baker arrived in California from his native Oklahoma, his career exploded. After landing gigs with Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan, Baker soon found himself a solo star and bandleader. Not long after that, he also found himself whispering love songs into a microphone. Baker was not gifted with the most robust voice of the day. Indeed, listening to pure singers like Nat "King" Cole or Johnny Hartman can expose Baker's weaknesses, but what Baker did, he did well. By choosing wistful, so-young, so-in-love tunes, Baker was able to pour his heart into the material, sketching soft, romantic moods and painting himself as the broken-hearted innocent. The effect can be devastating, as Baker's voice clings to the melody, threatening to disintegrate at any moment. Many of his best tunes--"I Fall in Love Too Easily," "But Not for Me," "Let's Get Lost"--are collected here, and as such, there is no better place to begin an appreciation of Baker's unique singing. --S. Duda
Perhaps this is Chet Baker's vocal legacy. He is described in the liner notes as either alternating his vocals in emulating "a hip Alfalfa...singing grown-up songs...like a child feigning emotional maturity", or coming across as "a rather tainted Lothario in a fruitless search for lost innocence". Additionally, it also seems, at times, as if "there's a whole lot of nothing going on".
These songs are culled from five recording dates in Los Angeles, which took place between October 1953 and July 1956. Chet sings, and backs up with his trumpet. Russ Freeman provides the requisite piano emphasis throughout. Carson Smith and Jimmy Bond alternate half the disc's songs on background bass, while Bob Neel, Peter Littman, and Lawrence Marable split most of their duties whisking the drums. Joe Mondragon, bass, and Shelly Manne, drums, help kick off the CD on 1953's 'The Thrill Is Gone'.
Chet's almost androgynous cover-boy looks, and beguilingly winsome sound, contribute to the atmospheric ambivalence.