Original released on 10" LP Pacific Jazz PJLP-11 (US, April 1954)
and on 12" LP Pacific Jazz PJ-1222 (US, 1956)
As Gerald
Heard's liner notes point out, it's difficult to decide whether Chet Baker was
a trumpet player who sang or a singer who played trumpet. When the 24-year-old
California-based trumpeter started his vocal career in 1954, his singing was
revolutionary; as delicate and clear as his trumpet playing, with a similarly
bright and vibrato-free tone, Baker simply didn't sound like any previous jazz
singer. His first vocal session, recorded in February 1954 (8 tracks), is so innocent-sounding it's like cub reporter
Jimmy Olsen had started a new career as a jazz singer. The album's remainng six
tracks, recorded in July 1956, are even more milk and cookies, thanks in no
small part to syrupy material like Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been in
Love Before" and Donaldson/Kahn's drippy "My Buddy." Choices
from the earlier session like "My Funny Valentine" - arguably the
definitive version of this oft-recorded song - and "There Will Never Be
Another You" work much, much better. The spacious musical setting, a
simple trumpet and piano-bass-drums rhythm section, is perfect for Baker's
low-key style. Despite the few faults of song selection, "Chet Baker Sings" is a
classic of West Coast cool jazz. (Stewart Mason in AllMusic)
