Chet Baker Sings

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.