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JazzWords > Chet Baker
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(page two)
I have heard it said that no one did more throwaway recording than Chet Baker and Sonny Stitt,
but I don't agree on either count. Baker had an effortlessness to his playing that many can
interpret as not caring, but I think, like Stitt, it came too easy for him. He was a master of another
thoughtful line, another setting, another glib moment. His whole life was an event that Chet
made work for him, if not always for those around him. His talent was rich, and his timing in
music and life was above average.
The memoir only goes to 1963 and then just stops. Fortunately, he made recordings until his
death in 1988, with co-leaders as diverse as Archie Shepp, Warne Marsh, Paul Desmond, Stan Getz, the
NDR Big Band and a host of European players. He can tear your heart out with a solo - just listen
to one of his last CDs, the soundtrack to his life story "Let's Get Lost", on which he sings and plays.
"Imagination" is a great torch song, with the burner on very low.
You sometimes wonder if he can get the next phrase out, he sounds so tired and spent. Chet never
got to see the movie - it was finished just after his death. I also am waiting to see the movie - since
I chose not to buy it at its original $89.95 price. Now it's hard to find (out of print almost since
its release in 1989).
When you read his book, you realize what a charming man he must have been. He got people to do things for
him (like open a club under his name) that other players could never imagine. While he was slowed down
a few times, he never really got caught until the end, when he landed face-first on the pavement in Amsterdam
after a fall from an upstairs window. The circumstances have never been fully explained. But it was an
ending that probably surprised no one more than Chet Baker.
©1999 Dave Leonnig
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