Artist:Chet Baker
Song:El Morro (Alternate Take)
Album:You Can't Go Home Again
To many jazz fans, trumpter/vocalist Chet Baker typifies "cool". I guess this has something to do with his laconic trumpet playing or his singing or his looks. Baker was a proponent of West Coast Jazz along with his friend Gerry Mulligan. He had the ability to be great but heroin brought him down and his music is inconsistent as a result. He finally got on methadone in the early 70s and this 1977 A & M Records release You Can't Go Home Again was part of his big comeback. Baker fits very nicely into the 70s modern jazz style and some great musicians are on this including arranger/pianist Don Sebesky, John Scofield on guitar, Mike Brecker on tenor sax, Paul Desmond on alto sax, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. Verve released an expanded 2CD version in 2000. Chet Baker moved back to Europe but he just couldn't stay away from heroin and accidently fell out of an Amsterdam hotel window while shooting up on May 13, 1988 at age 58. The critically acclaimed documentary Let's Get Lost was released soon after. I'm not crazy about his singing but it's popular so it's difficult to find videos of him only playing trumpet. But I did find one from 1980. Chet Baker was a talented musician whose legend seems to have grown because of his self destructive lifestyle. He was good but not that good.
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