I was holding my breath, not wanting to miss a single note
he was singing. That was the first time I heard Chet Baker sing the song,
“There’s a Lull in My Life.” Then, I
listened to him sing, “My Funny Valentine” and caught myself doing the very
same thing.
Breathe, I reminded myself, but quietly and only when
necessary because…this is special.
His phrasing and the pacing of lyrics are exact and straight
forward and that keeps me hanging on each word, each note, to hear how he will
place it within the whole song. There
are some words whose endings he sends onto the air as he would when playing the
end of certain horn phrases. His
intonation and tonality are exactly what I hear when he plays his trumpet. In
fact, when he sings I can see in my mind’s eye the horn’s valves moving to
correspond with the notes being sung.
And, when he scats, as on “Dancing on the Ceiling,” it’s not the scat
singing that so many others do, but rather an amazing vocalized horn solo.
When Chet Baker sings I feel he is quite simply giving us
the lyrics and melody as they were written, without frills and, yet, the songs
are more evocative and complete than many more embellished performances. It’s
been written that he was the definition of West Coast Cool Jazz, and it’s true
he had a cool sense of style and his approach to music does seem to sum up that
type of jazz.
See what you think as
you listen to him on any or all of the three songs I've mentioned. And, don’t forget to breath.
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