Chet Baker, 'The Prince Of Cool'

[Prairie Dog]

I recently discovered the music of the jazz legend Chet Baker.

Here's a website that gives some insight to this truly gifted trumpet player and vocalist. http://chetbakertribute.com/chet.htm
There are a whole bunch of downloads here too. The best of these are 'My Funny Valentine', 'Time After Time', 'The Touch Of Your Lips', and 'Everything Happens To Me' which sounds a lot like Billy Joel's 'Just The Way You Are'.

A movie called 'Prince Of Cool" is currenty in production and stars Josh Hartnett.

 

[Mr. 'H']

I love Chet's music and style. I discovered it as he features on the soundtrack for L.A. Confidential (my favorite soundtrack of all time).

Tragic later life though....

 

[Rick Blaine]

Let's Get Lost
Bruce Webber's 1989 film will break your heart.

 

[Bebop]

Chet Baker, along with Art Pepper and many others, proved that you don't have to be sober to be a genius. There are no sober musicians that can get anywhere near Chet's musical soul. There are no black and white issues when it comes to sobriety and he was the essence of grey. I sometimes think that sobriety among jazz musicians has led to the decline of soulful jazz. He admitted that he was an addict and claimed he was what he was, because he was in love with getting high. That aside, he is one hell of a musical inspiration.

 

[Solid Citizen]

Chet Baker

Baker's cool sound & his early hip look, slicked hair & lounge shirts are cemented in many fans minds. Years of addiction really destroyed his looks at the time of his passing. Interesting link to Chet & his music.


http://home.ica.net/~blooms/vol2no3.htm

Solid Citizen

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Too much is spoken about his cool sound. People tend to overlook what a fantastic technician he was when focussing on the sound.

It's interesting that after those years of addiction he was producing arguably the best music of his career. After all his teeth had fallen out and he'd had to learn how to play with falsers.

A total arse of a man, apparently. His addiction was your problem, too. Some addicts look after themselves. Chet Baker made it an issue you had to deal with too.

bk

 

[Brian Sheridan]

"Let's Get Lost" is an unblinking, unflinching look at a musical genius who let drugs destroy his looks and, ultimately, his life. It is a heartbreaking tragedy with great music. Can't wait for the DVD.

Other books I can recommend on Baker -

Deep in a Dream
The Long Night Of Chet Baker
by James Gavin

Comprehensive but dwells too much on Baker's awful life choices and not enough on the music. It is probably more available than "Chet Baker
His Life and Music" by Jeroen de Valk which is better but covers more of Baker's European years.


Looking For Chet Baker
An Evan Horne Mystery
by Bill Moody

A work of fiction that uses Baker's life and death as a springboard. Moody is a musician himself so he get it right.

 

[Bebop]

BK, his teeth didn't just "fall out". They were knocked out in a S.F. fight. Falling out of a hotel window to his death was an interesting end to a messy life. Interesting interview of Baker by Elvis Costello.www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXbvLLKJ5tA

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Listen to his early Fifties recordings with Gerry Mulligan, where the two trade amazingly catchy riffs. I envy those just getting into Chet's music! I instantly remember my first days "discovering" Jazz back in 1993 when I hear Baker's music. I had my first apartment near downtown, walked to the Jazz Festival and seeing Gerry Mulligan in what would probably be his last gig in October, 1995. The Pacific Jazz compilation Let's Get Lost: The Best of Chet Baker Sings is one of the quintessential albums I listened to constantly back then, and I still listen to it today. Positively life-changing stuff for me.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Mosaic Records had the best Baker and Mulligan sets. They are works of art, as is the music. Unfortunatly, those sets are out of print.

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/

 

[Nathan Dodge]

"Let's Get Lost" is an unblinking, unflinching look at a musical genius who let drugs destroy his looks and, ultimately, his life. It is a heartbreaking tragedy with great music. Can't wait for the DVD.

Other books I can recommend on Baker -

Deep in a Dream
The Long Night Of Chet Baker
by James Gavin

Comprehensive but dwells too much on Baker's awful life choices and not enough on the music. It is probably more available than "Chet Baker
His Life and Music" by Jeroen de Valk which is better but covers more of Baker's European years.

Deep In a Dream only shows what a dirtbag a junkie can be, and Chet may have placed second only to Charlie parker as a bigtime jerk when it came to drugs.

I just remembered, after many years, that gloriously vulgar yet brilliantly funny Jack Sheldon story (probably apocryphal) about Chet from 'Let's Get Lost', in which Sheldon's... ahem..lady companion for the evening...mistakes Chet for Jack. I daren't repeat the dialogue, but for those who haven't seen it, you're in for a (disgusting) "treat."

And avoid "As Though I Had Wings" which is allegedly Chet's diary musings. If they are, then the person who transcribed them doesn't know Jazz, and it's supposed to have been released by the Baker estate! West Coast Jazz stalwart Lennie Niehaus becomes 'Lonnie Miehaus.' Ugh.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I just remembered, after many years, that gloriously vulgar yet brilliantly funny Jack Sheldon story (probably apocryphal) about Chet from 'Let's Get Lost', in which Sheldon's... ahem..lady companion for the evening...mistakes Chet for Jack.

Is this the same Jack Sheldon that was the trumpet player and side-kick on the Merv Griffin show?

If you're talking about the same guy, I can't see how the lady mistook Chet for Jack. Chet was a 'lady killer'. Jack on the other hand, (let me put it lightly) looked like a 'bull dog'!!

 

[Bebop]

Yes, it is the same Jack Sheldon but remember, there were drugs involved.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Is this the same Jack Sheldon that was the trumpet player and side-kick on the Merv Griffin show?

If you're talking about the same guy, I can't see how the lady mistook Chet for Jack. Chet was a 'lady killer'. Jack on the other hand, (let me put it lightly) looked like a 'bull dog'!!

When the two were younger in the 1950s, one might mistake the two...perhaps.

Jack Sheldon

 

[Gideon Ashe]

Chet Baker, Shelly Mann,Stan Getz, Bill Evans, et al.

Man,
Where do I start????
Best to say up front that I am a no talent usta-wannabe musician, who played crappy bass, and mediocre drums.
But,...I still had sharp hearing and a fine sense of timing at that point in my life.
I was young.

When I returned from Korea in the 50's, I had the opportunity to see Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Shelly Mann, and Stan Getz, (and others) over a period of three plus weeks at several clubs in California. The Blackhawk, was one, Christies (the one that burned?)was another. Some great black clubs too. My white face was a strange sight there in those years, but music bound everyone together.
I forget the names of the others.
Getting old these days.
I was hung up on the sound (what was called West Coast Jazz or Cool Jazz)right away, and grooved on the raw power, NO, make that clarity of the sounds they put out.
It was as each one was living in the head of the other.
I found I was lighting cigarets in synch with them, particularly Russ Freman.
Anyway, I was on. An immeadiate fan.
And a fan since.

Not a night goes past (I don't sleep much or well any more) without one of these giant talents providing me with their genius, to help fill up the hours until daylight.

Let me recommend the clever writing talens of Bill Moody, who writes smart and clever mysteries (his Evan Horne series) relating to Jazz music. His "Searching for Chet Baker" is one of the most recent.
Next up, he tells me, is a book about Miles Davis to be named "Boplicity". (sound familar?)Due out this coming summer.

Also excellent for delving into Chet beyond his music, is the biography "Deep in a Dream; the long night of Chet Baker" by James Gavin. (Not the actor or General) Pub:Knopf. Out of print but may be purchased through Alibris or even Amazon.

And, do not, please do not forget Bill Evans. Piano genius of huge skill and an improv master with a natural technique, who was as tragic and flawed a figure as was Chet, or Stan Getz (who managed to kick his Jones after so many years) who died of cancer and NOT an OD.

Tonight it is Stan Getz's "Final Concert Recording" At the Munich Philmonic Halle in 1990 with the talented Kenny Barron, of whom Getz said "Kenny is my heart". Folowed by Bill Evans "Alone". Just Bill. No bass or drums. Solo.

My best to all,
Gideon Ashe

 

[Nathan Dodge]

We share a love of West Coast Jazz, Gideon Ashe! I wasn't even born when Mulligan and Baker played the Haig, (though I saw Mulligan at one of his last gigs, the Hollywood Jazz Festival in 1995.) but I've loved the music of many of these artists and I heartily reccomend Ted Gioia's indispensible book West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz In California, 1945-1960. I've read it many times since 1995 and it is the bible of the music, with enough biographical information on such great, but underappreciated west coast talents like pianist Carl (Not the Rock& Roll One) Perkins, who played in the wondrous Curtis Counce Group (Perkins, Jack Sheldon, Harold Land, and the great drummer, Frank Butler, Counce on bass). Shelly Manne had the best ride cymbal ever! Perhaps there should be a separate West Coast Jazz thread...

 

[Gideon Ashe]

I would not want to break up a set,.........

No. I don't think so. Lets let these jazzmen alive and passed on, rest together with their friends, enemies and the rest of their melieu.
Both West & East Coast styles; the black and white, the Latin giants, need to be together in their art.

You should have been there.
Young.
Alive.
Just back from a very nasty war, against even nastier people and with hormones raging, round eyed, sweet smelling ladies by the droves and a pocket full of money not having been spent for a year.
Cheesy pattern shirts, Dark glasses and skinny belts on flannel slacks, with Venetian pebbled loafers with steel cleats on the heels and hair beaten into submissionwith Crew Wax, Dippity Doo, Charles Antel's Lanolin (which made one smell like lamb chops cooking) or Wildroot Cream Oil.

I LOVED the magic of the music, the free and wide ranging atmosphere, the quiet of no artillery or incoming mortars.
The look of the women, and their returned smiles, with their chinch belts and smooth skirts over young hips. Slow dancing and dreaming while awake.
HEAVEN!!!!
Just HEAVEN on earth.

After three short weeks or so, a looong cross country on a non air conditioned Greyhound to my next duty station, with Jim Crow still alive and well, keeping me from having lunch with my military buddies who lived for a year in the crapiest conditions.
A short stopover in Amarillo(Tx) got me an overnight in the calaboose (attitude violation)and a smack in the chops from a local Constable for sitting next to and chatting with a fine clarinet player whose skin tone was actually lighter than mine. Weird days.

Back on the East coast I was able to pick up the fine sounds at many NYC clubs. Some famous, some not so famous, but ALL known to me, being born and raised there. My cousins and my sister helped me spend the rest of my leave in dives that I wish would still be alive and cooking.
Great music. Great music.
Great times.
Nothing like being shot at and missed to let you appreciate life.(Churchill, I think)

Tonight on the musicical menu is:
Stan Getz, CD "People Time(with Kenny Barron) and Stan Getz, "Serenity"

My best to all.
G.Ashe

 

[Prairie Dog]

Would you categorize any of Creed Taylor's A&M "CTI recordings" as West Coast Jazz?
I have all of those recordings.

CTI recordings are distinctive. Taylor chose to surround the artist with an orchestra. Don Sebesky created most of the arrangements for the label and every session features some of jazz's finest artists-- Ron Carter appears on nearly every recording and Herbie Hancock is frequently on piano.

Artists who recorded on CTI in 1967 were Wes Montgomery, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Herbie Mann. In 1968, Nat Adderley, George Benson, Artie Butler, Paul Desmond, Tamiko Jones, Wes Montgomery, Milton Nascimento, Tamba 4, Walter Wanderley, Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson were in the studio for CTI. Quincy Jones was the only new artist in 1969.

George Benson was signed to CTI in 1968. As Benson tells the story, CTI/A&M artist Wes Montgomery told Herb Alpert that George was going to be the next great jazz guitarist and that A&M should sign him. Alpert passed the word to Creed Taylor who signed Benson to CTI.

Each record is packaged in a heavy cardboard gatefold cover. The cover art is instantly recognizable–an innovative Pete Turner photo framed in a white border on coated paper. The artist's name and title of the album are set in bold black type in two lines across the top. The inside of the gatefold contains detailed session information and song notes by prominent music journalists.

 

[Gideon Ashe]

Does it qualify? If you want it to,...it does.

Would you categorize any of Creed Taylor's A&M "CTI recordings" as West Coast Jazz?
I have all of those recordings.


I sure would. Those albums by musicians that played West Coast (cool) Jazz surely do qualify. Those that I would have left out, are those that played other forms, i.e. Bossa, Blues, etc.
Some were East Coast men, that were by chance, livelihood or circumstance happened to be located elsewhere. It is NOT the recording company, nor the physical location of the artist, but the style, sound and philosophy and the musical melieu in which they played.
Ustabee, Onct upan a thyme, a place in Miami's Overtown had a club, in the early 60 until the early 70's called Sir John's NightBeat. Jazz Greats from East & West coast genre as well as some locals did their thing there.
It took desegration, and a couple of mean, violent and very nasty riots to kill off THAT place. Dead it is, with NO replacement of it's type. Sad. But I always laugh at funerals and cry at weddings, so on with the show.

It was NOT hard to see Coppers AND Criminals taking a hiatus from their lives to enjoy the atmosphere, drinks, music and the ladies that were to be found there. The Fried chicken and greens were not bad either.

The best still cooking (musically) but not all the time, is Tobacco Road. A hole in the wall on the Miami River, not far from I-95 where it meets the Old Customs House. Crap neighborhood though.
Excellent chili, very decent burgers and the like, and occasionally some very nice music.

Tonight my musical menu is:
Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer, recorded in Fall 1961 at NOLA records in NYC (West Coast Style done on the East Coast)
Lineup:Steve Kuhn
John Neves
Roy Haynes

and

Miles Davis's 'round about Midnight
(East Coast Style recorded in NYC)
Lineup: Philly Joe Jones
John Coltrane
Red Garland
Paul Chambers

The recordings have been approved by my listening partner, Asher Ashe, the Tonkinese Cat Critic!! I drink the Single malt and chew the cigars. He just listens. Big tail swishes he approves. He gets very still; he is waiting for a new CD.

My best,
G.Ashe