The Best of Chet Baker Sings

Chet Baker

  • AllMusic Rating
    9
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

The Best of Chet Baker Sings Review

by Richie Unterberger

To much of the pop (as opposed to the jazz) audience, Chet Baker was known not as an able cool jazz trumpeter, but as a romantic balladeer. The two classifications were not mutually exclusive; Baker's vocal numbers would also feature his trumpet playing, as well as fine instrumental support from West Coast cool jazzers. For those who prefer the vocal side of the Baker canon, this is an excellent compilation of his best vintage material in that mode. The 20 tracks draw from sessions covering the era when he was generally conceded to be at his vocal peak (1953-1956), and are dominated by standards from the likes of Rodgers & Hart, Carmichael, Gershwin, and Kern. Baker's singing was white and naïve in the best senses, with a quavering, uncertain earnestness that embodied a certain (safe) strain of mid-'50s bohemianism. That's the Baker heard on this collection, which contains some his most famous interpretations, including "My Funny Valentine," "Time After Time," "There Will Never Be Another You," and "Let's Get Lost."

Track Listing

Title/Composer Performer Time Stream
1
The Thrill Is Gone
Lew Brown / Ray Henderson
Chet Baker 02:46
2
But Not for Me
George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
Chet Baker 03:00
3
Time After Time
Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne
Chet Baker 02:44
4
I Get Along Without You Very Well
Hoagy Carmichael
Chet Baker 02:56
5
There Will Never Be Another You
Mack Gordon / Harry Warren
Chet Baker 02:56 SpotifyAmazon
6
Look for the Silver Lining
Buddy DeSylva / Jerome Kern
Chet Baker 02:36 SpotifyAmazon
7
My Funny Valentine
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
Chet Baker 02:15
8
I Fall in Love Too Easily
Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne
Chet Baker 03:18
9
Daybreak
Harold Adamson / Ferde Grofé
Chet Baker 02:38 SpotifyAmazon
10
Just Friends
John Klenner / Sam M. Lewis
Chet Baker 02:40 SpotifyAmazon
11
I Remember You
Johnny Mercer / Victor Schertzinger
Chet Baker 03:12 SpotifyAmazon
12
Let's Get Lost
Frank Loesser / Jimmy McHugh
Chet Baker 03:41 SpotifyAmazon
13
Long Ago (And Far Away)
Ira Gershwin / Jerome Kern
Chet Baker 03:55 SpotifyAmazon
14
You Don't Know What Love Is
Gene DePaul / Don Raye
Chet Baker 04:48
15
That Old Feeling
Lew Brown / Sammy Fain
Chet Baker 02:59
16
It's Always You
Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen
Chet Baker 03:31
17
I've Never Been in Love Before
Frank Loesser
Chet Baker 04:23
18
My Buddy
Walter Donaldson / Gus Kahn
Chet Baker 03:16
19
Like Someone in Love
Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen
Chet Baker 02:23
20
My Ideal
Newell Chase / Leo Robin / Richard A. Whiting
Chet Baker 04:19
blue highlight denotes track pick
The Best of Chet Baker Sings

Chet Baker Discography Browser