Chet Baker

Chet Baker Sings - The Mono & Stereo Versions (772301)

Chet Baker Sings - The Mono & Stereo Versions Agrandir l'image

2021

Chet Baker Sings - The Mono & Stereo Versions

Chet Baker

Waxtime

8436559468701

LPS 169045

772301

JAZZ

2

LP 19,98 €

2-LP SET

180 GRAM VINYL-AUDIOPHILE PRESSING

MONO & STEREO VERSION

The complementing talents of Chet Baker (1929-1988) both as a trumpet player and as a singer are now well known. Both Chet’s trumpet and voice seem to be extensions of the same musical personality, and once you’ve become familiar with both facets of Baker, you expect to hear them both.

However, this album was a revelation at the time and won Baker new fame and a new audience, which was less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are quite clear: Chet’s voice is tender and beautiful, and at the same time his phrasing always swings and surprises. While Chet Baker Sings is now considered a classic and continues to be a jazz best-seller, its initial critical reception wasn’t all that good, and many renowned jazz writers disapproved of Chet’s vocals for being rough, unprofessional and non-masculine.

Despite the critics’ opinions, the album never stopped selling and its popularity was such that after the initial 1954 release as a 10” LP (Pacific Jazz LP11) which contained just eight tracks, it reappeared in 1956 as a 12” LP (World Pacific PJ-1222), adding the results of other later sessions. Both of these original LPs were taped in Mono, but Chet Baker Sings had not lost its popularity in 1962, when the new craze of Stereo recordings arrived.

Thus, Pacific Jazz decided to reissue the LP in Stereo form. To achieve that, they recorded a complementary guitar backing by Joe Pass and mixed it with the original Mono tapes. The results, which can be heard here, were a new album which didn’t respect the track listing order of either of its Mono predecessors. In fact, while the 10” version included eight tracks and the 12” contained 14, the new Stereo issue featured 12 tunes (removing three songs from the 12” album and adding a reading of “Someone to Watch Over Me” from another date).

PERSONNEL:

  • CHET BAKER - (vocals & trumpet).
  • RUSS FREEMAN - (piano & celeste).
  • JOE PASS - (guitar (on the Stereo version only).
  • Plus collective personnel:.
  • Jimmy Bond, Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon (b), Peter Littman, Shelly Manne, Bob Neel (d).
  • Recorded in Los Angeles, 1953-56..
  • Joe Pass overdubbed guitar accompaniment to create the Stereo version of the LP in Los Angeles, in 1962.

TRACKS:

  • LP ONE
  • THE ORIGINAL MONO VERSION
  • (Pacific Jazz –PJ-1222)
  • SIDE A:
  • A1 THAT OLD FEELING
  • A2 IT’S ALWAYS YOU
  • A3 LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
  • A4 MY IDEAL
  • A5 I’VE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE
  • A6 MY BUDDY
  • A7 JUST FRIENDS (*)
  • SIDE B:
  • B1 BUT NOT FOR ME
  • B2 TIME AFTER TIME
  • B3 I GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU VERY WELL
  • B4 MY FUNNY VALENTINE
  • B5 THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU
  • B6 THE THRILL IS GONE
  • B7 I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY
  • B8 LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING
  • B9 LET’S GET LOST (*)
  • (*) Bonus tracks
  • ___________________________________________
  • LP TWO
  • THE STEREO VERSION
  • (World Pacific Records ST-1826)
  • SIDE C:
  • C1 MY FUNNY VALENTINE
  • C2 THAT OLD FEELING
  • C3 LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
  • C4 MY BUDDY
  • C5 IT’S ALWAYS YOU
  • C6 SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME (*)
  • SIDE D:
  • D1 LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING
  • D2 BUT NOT FOR ME
  • D3 I GET ALONG WITHOUT YOU VERY WELL
  • D4 I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY
  • D5 THE THRILL IS GONE
  • D6 THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU