In New York

I've been listening to Chet Baker in New York recently and was knocked out with Chet's playing. All too often his sound has been described as 'frail', 'wistful', 'vulnerable', 'delicate', etc., etc., (which it sometimes is), but on this album, he is powerful, assertive, muscular, and very much in tune with the New York Hard Bop style. His companions on the date are all peerless, fully paid up hard boppers, the best around at the time, which means the best ever!! Johnny Griffin, Al Haig, Paul Chambers and the great Philly Joe Jones.

Here's a thought: I believe this album is Chet's equivalent of Art Pepper's brilliant (I'm resisting the temptation to say 'iconic' - a much overused word these days) 'Meets the Rhythm Section' album, in which the altoist is joined by the Miles Davis rhythm section of the time. With Al Haig replacing Red Garland, I think Chet's album compares favourably with Pepper's.

Large and small group dynamics

Chet Baker made one 'big band' album under his own name. This was in 1956 and it comprised sessions with two different bands, of ten and eleven musicians, so the 'big band' title is a bit of a misnomer. The latter ensemble is the more interesting of the two, with an all-star line-up, including Art Pepper, Bill Perkins, Phil Urso, and Bud Shank (doubling alto and baritone) in the saxes, plus Frank Rosolino as the sole trombonist and Conte Candoli in the three-man trumpet section. All the charts (by Jimmy Heath for the 11-piece) are performed with immaculate precision, which nails the canard about Chet not being a good reader, which I mentioned in an earlier post. A small photograph on the back of the CD sleeve shows CB behind a music stand reading his part. The most extraordinary thing about these sessions is the power and authority of Chet's playing. In this context he really dominates the proceedings, although in the larger band the lead trumpet is obviously played by one of the other players. The solo work is punched out with great clarity and drive and gives the lie to some critics who have described his playing as 'tentative' and even 'enervated'.
In fact, Chet displayed a great sensitivity and flexibilty to the surroundings he was in at any one time. For example, in the Mulligan quartet, he played soft and low, with the beautiful sound that we all love, sometimes playing at the bottom of the trumpet's register, below the stave, to balance his sound with that of the baritone saxophone. Otherwise, the pitch gap between the two instruments would have been too extreme, which has often been the case with other trumpet/baritone combinations. In the area of dynamics, Mulligan was not a 'blaster' on his instrument and was aware of the necessity of staying down to the level of the unamplified bass and light brushwork on the drums. The original quartet must have been a quiet affair, ideally suited to the tiny Haig Club, where they played to the hipper members of the Hollywood community. I love the live recordings made at that club, with occasional sitters-in like Stan Getz and Lee Konitz. If you don't know them, check them out without delay.

Earliest Chet

I recently came across a CD called Ascent of the Cool: Rare and Unissued Chet Baker from the 1950s. It begins with a version of Get Happy, from a home recording made in 1949, between Chet's stints in the US Army, and it's amazing how assured he was even at that early time, when he was just 19. He had mastered the bebop idiom even then and his incisive trumpet cuts through the crackly recording as he negotiates the chord sequence with great confidence and force. Apparently another title (All The Things You Are) was recorded that day, but it is not included on the CD. Other tracks feature Chet alongside Bird, Mulligan (of course), Pepper, Rogers, Clifford Brown, Paul Desmond and Percy Faith (!). A rich mixture. If you're a stickler for clean hi-fi sound, this is not for you, but it's an important historical document for Chetophiles and contains some great swinging jazz from the West Coast.

Chet's horns

Like many jazz trumpeters of the 'fifties, Chet played a Martin Committee. Distinctive and beautiful with no fripperies, triggers, struts or bars, the Committee was a masterpiece of minimalist design. It was also notable for a 'smokey' sound which was ideal for hard bop and West Coast stylists alike. The way Chet played it was the ultimate 'cool' sound: who needs a flugel when you have a Committee? I think at that time he was using a fairly deep Bach 6B mouthpiece. Chet's classic recordings, including those with Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, and his own quartet featuring Russ Freeman on piano, were all played on the Martin. He later switched briefly to flugelhorn (a French Selmer), but as he once said on a radio interview, he preferred to get a flugel-like sound on the trumpet, which also gave the option of a little more power when needed. On his big 'comeback' in the 'eighties', Chet played a Conn Connstellation (with a 6C), which gave him the sound he was looking for. Apparently he really liked that horn, but like many others, it was 'stolen': code for his having sold it for drug money. He next appeared with a fairly unimpressive Beuscher, which featured in the films 'Let's Get Lost' and 'Live at Ronnie Scott's'. Finally he was given, or loaned, a Vincent Bach Stradivarius that can be seen in the stunning footage of the Japanese concert in 1987, which illustrates what I've been saying about the sound. Great stuff! You have to wait for the trumpet solo, but what the hell, its a good rhythm section. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C_hSbJ_IO4&feature=related

Stu Williamson

I've been listening to quite a bit of Stu Williamson recently, an underrated player, don't you think? I suppose he was overshadowed by Chet, Shorty, Conte and co but I think he was a nice player in his own right. I particularly like the sessions he did with Charlie Mariano, Russ Freeman, Leroy Vinnegar & Shelly Manne. Also the recordings he made with Clifford Brown & Zoot Sims on which he played valve trombone. There aren't many trumpet players who can switch from trumpet to trombone with equal facility and creativity, but I think Stu did it better than anyone. Listen him on the rare 'On Stage' with the Bill Perkins Octet. Did I read somewhere that he got totally screwed up with drugs and gave up music completely?

An odd line-up

I was just listening to the album 'Chet', which I downloaded free from the site previously mentioned (see past posts). Apart from the eponymous hero, this features Pepper Adams, the other great baritone player, and Herbie Mann on flute, with an all-star rhythm section comprising Bill Evans, Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers and Connie Kay. James Gavin seems to like it and called it 'Baker's ultimate "make-out" album', adding 'the whole band fell under his spell'. I disagree: Chet sounds great -very cool- but Pepper Adams is his usual terrific, exciting, blustering self; rather separate from the trumpeter, and lacking the empathy and interplay that characterized the Mulligan/Baker sessions. Herbie Mann seems surplus to requirements, tootling away ineffectually in the low register. A disappointing album in my opinion, despite the stellar line-up. A successful one though, with a glamour cover, featuring a soft-focus Chet in a wooly jumper being hugged from behind by a glamorous girl. Must have been sweltering under those studio lights!

Dental stuff

Most Chet fans know that he played on dentures for the latter part of his career, after having most of his teeth knocked out in a drug-related incident, which we don't need to go into, since there are several different versions of this story around and we'll never know which one is entirely accurate. However, it's less well-known that he had played for many years missing an upper incisor, which didn't seem to hamper his playing, and maybe contributed to his unique sound.

He was not the first trumpet player to overcome the problem of playing on dentures, and I've been compiling a list of other famous names who were in a similar position. So far, I have: Roy Eldridge, Bobby Hackett and Kenny Baker, but I'm sure there are many more ...