Chet baker singing, is kind of like Mobley posing in Playgirl

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

i am grooving to

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/comp/vari...f_pacific_jazz/

right now, all of a studden....this sound comes on: THAT is what chet sounds like singing? its the most annoying sound ive ever heard. to clarify for you let me consult the lp: "Grey December"....i cannot listen to this, he sounds like hes, i cant even put my finger on it!

its funny, casue i generally like records, on Pacific Jazz

i bet he had his critics w/ the singing, am i right on that?

[mellowT]

Same reason why I can't deal with the second disc to Chet Baker - Complete Pacific Jazz Studio Recordings Mosaic set. Those tracks are on permanent disable.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

he sounds like hes tired

[JSngry]

More than once, I've heard/seen his singing mistaken for that of a woman.

[Dave James]

Chet Baker's singing is like tasting beer for the first time. "You gotta be kidding me. How can anyone stand this?" Then, after awhile and with repeated exposure, you learn to like it. An acquired taste if ever there was one. Personally, I come down on the "it's fine with me" side of the fence. Even later period Chet, when his voice was completely shot, is listenable to me much in the same way Lady in Satin Billie is listenable to me. If you can't hear the jazz life in those voices....

Up over and out.

[Jazzmoose]

More than once, I've heard/seen his singing mistaken for that of a woman.

First time I heard him, my impression was a woman with serious gender confusion issues.

[Niko]

while i also tend to skip the tracks where he sings (or even worse, scats,), i do find this clip quite powerful

as if late in his life baker learned to truly live the creepiness that had always been in his voice... ( )

[umum_cypher]

while i also tend to skip the tracks where he sings (or even worse, scats,), i do find this clip quite powerful

as if late in his life baker learned to truly live the creepiness that had always been in his voice... ( )

Until the trumpet chorus it's better with the sound off: Chet's pullover is the pullover of a great artist. Michel Graillier has also got the west coast look down brilliantly.

[Teasing the Korean]

I loved his voice the first time I heard it and still do. I'm talking about when he was younger.

I don't really like his singing from later in life as pure singing, but I do find it cool in a David Lynch kind of way.

[Niko]

Chet's pullover is the pullover of a great artist. Michel Graillier has also got the west coast look down brilliantly.

especially with that plant in graillier's background (i like his solo though...)... just makes me smile so much, the idea of a guy looking so worn out, with that pullover, having seen so much in his life stepping to the front and then singing these completely nonsense lyrics

[BillF]

This was a problem with the film Let's Get Lost. It tended to give the impression that he was a vocalist who did a bit of trumpet playing on the side.

[Niko]

found this an interesting cotrast, two versions of bye bye blackbird (no singing) from 1964 and 1985 (the older version does little for me, at least concerning chet)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Bw2w5pCp8

[Bright Moments]

Chet Baker's singing is like tasting beer for the first time. "You gotta be kidding me. How can anyone stand this?" Then, after awhile and with repeated exposure, you learn to like it. An acquired taste if ever there was one. Personally, I come down on the "it's fine with me" side of the fence. Even later period Chet, when his voice was completely shot, is listenable to me much in the same way Lady in Satin Billie is listenable to me. If you can't hear the jazz life in those voices....

Up over and out.

well said dave

[jostber]

I love Chet Baker's singing, listen to it often. He's got that feel. If you hear "The Touch Of Your Lips" on this great record, and say that he cannot sing, you have not listened:

Baby Breeze

[Dan Gould]

In your opinion, Dave.

For me, when I was seven or eight, I got a sip of Dad's beer after a flawless game of catch (no drops, no wild throws - and Dad didn't believe in lunging for a throw, if you didn't put it in his glove, it was your ass running after it).

Ever since, I've loved baseball and beer, without needing anytime to acquire a "taste" for it.

On the other hand, Chet Baker's singing has sucked since day one.

IMHO, of course.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Dan Gould

[king ubu]

I quite like Baker singing... for instance on "But Not for Me" on the live album "Strollin'" (Enja) with the trio w/Catherine & Rassinfosse (sp?). Also, I just bought Vol. 4 of Enja's "The Legacy" Series, titled "Oh You Crazy Moon", a fine performance by the 1978 quartet w/Phil Markowitz, Scott Lee and Jeff Brillinger. Chet does some singing AND some extensive scatting and I like it!

I also like Chet's early singing... but it's been a while that I played any of his early music.

[Cliff Englewood]

If you think Chet's bad, you probably won't like Zoot Sims, just a heads up.

[Chuck Nessa]

I think Chet's singing is just dandy and it gives insight to his playing.

[Larry Kart]

I think Chet's singing is just dandy and it gives insight to his playing.

[AllenLowe]

I'm a Bobby Troup fan myself -

[Chuck Nessa]

Are you sure this isn't a way of hiding your lust for Julie London?

[TedR]

I, for one, never hid it. Emergency!

[Larry Kart]

Don't know where to find it right now, but somewhere on the 'Net I once hear a wonderful snippet of tape from a London recording session -- maybe not the "Cry Me a River" date, but one with the same guitar and bass backing -- where she profanely, earthily expresses her unhappiness with the chosen tempo and other specific musical details, including her own intonation and/or uncertainty about what key would best suit this song for her. Clearly she was one hell of a terrific woman, and she sure did know her music.

[Larry Kart]

Here it is!

http://www.carrothers.com/comedyjukebox.htm

[Teasing the Korean]

Don't know where to find it right now, but somewhere on the 'Net I once hear a wonderful snippet of tape from a London recording session -- maybe not the "Cry Me a River" date, but one with the same guitar and bass backing -- where she profanely, earthily expresses her unhappiness with the chosen tempo and other specific musical details, including her own intonation and/or uncertainty about what key would best suit this song for her. Clearly she was one hell of a terrific woman, and she sure did know her music.

Agreed. The CD reissue of "Julie is Her Name" V. 1 & 2 includes some between-tune banter that shows her clearly in control of the proceedings.