That Old Feeling - Chet Baker (1956)
When jazz musicians sing
Hey Jazzsters,
Today we’re looking at an interesting phenomenon — when jazz musicians try their hand at singing…
…with sublime results! (At least in this case.)
Today’s track:
Artist: Chet Baker
Album: Chet Baker Sings
Year: 1956
Image by Michiel Hendryckx - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11307584
Olly’s Take
Yesterday I asked the question: “How do you know if music is jazz or not?”
Well, today’s track is unquestionably jazz. In fact, for me, it’s the epitome of jazz.
Here are a few reasons why:
It’s a jazz quartet (piano, bass, drums, trumpet)
They’re playing an old standard song (it’s common in jazz to borrow old songs from Broadway and use them to improvise on)
The trumpeter (Chet Baker), is singing… despite not being a singer
When I hear this music, I’m not listening for anything fancy or complicated. I just appreciate the simplicity of the music… it really swings!
Who am I listening to?
Chat Baker is one of those musicians universally loved by all jazz people.
The reason is that he just plays pure, straight-up music, really really well.
He’s a trumpeter, but also loved for his singing.
Chet also led a typically tragic jazz life…
A gifted musician, and extremely handsome. But also hopelessly addicted to heroine. His music got deeper and more soulful as he got older, which for a jazz musician is a reflection of his lifestyle.
He died in 1988, falling from his hotel balcony in Amsterdam after a gig.
What’s the music?
This is a jazz quartet, playing straight-up 1950s jazz.
Pretty typical for jazz at the time, they take a great tune (That Old Feeling), and:
They play it (in this case, they sing it too)
They improvise
They play it again
3 things to listen for
Chet: The star of the show
Chet sings and plays trumpet.
He starts by playing the tune on the trumpet, then he sings it, and then (after a brief piano solo), he improvises on it… then he sings the closing section to end!
It’s the Chet show!
Lyrical trumpet solo
When I listen to Chet improvising on the trumpet, I feel like he’s singing.
Listen to how lyrical and melodic his trumpet playing is… just as if he were singing.
(The improvising is in the second half, after the piano solo.)
Listen to the lyrics
A song is a song is a song…
Don’t be distracted by the jazz here — a song must always be appreciated for what it is.
So listen to the lyrics, and listen for the emotion behind the words as Chet sings.
Share the music!
That’s all for today.
Please email me back and let me know which bits of the post you find most useful.
That way I know what to do more of!
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Until tomorrow,
Olly Richards