Post your favourite Chet Baker recordings below. Simply drop a YouTube URL into the comment box and it will automatically be embedded in your comment.
Hopefully everyone can find inspiration in the recordings…
This is one of my all time favourite recordings by Chet Baker. The tune is ‘Almost Blue’ written by Elvis Costello. It was recorded in Tokyo at Chet’s last ever live performance a year before his death in 1988.
As many of you know, I’m a big fan of ballads and slow tunes and so this one is right up my street 
Also here’s a video of Chet singing “My Funny Valentine” from the same Tokyo concert… what a performance from a true jazz legend!
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Love this! Listening to him sing this makes me play it so much more expressively
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Thanks for sharing Lori… it’s also one of my favourites!
Listening to him sing this makes me play it so much more expressively
I completely agree, hearing him sing a melody line really gets you into the tune… his sense of phrasing is superb. When I’m learning a new standard, Chet is one of the first places I go to.
This transcribed line is actually from that recording - 1:12 to be exact.
Chet Baker lines are a great place to start with transcription because he leaves lots of space and plays lots of chords tones and arpeggio shapes.
If you like ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’ have a listen to his recording of ‘But Not For Me’… he sings in a similar tone and has some wonderful improvised material in his solo.
I’ve been meaning to transcribe that solo for a while now!
Last night I went to Cellar Door in Port Townsend Wa. A TINY below street club, listened to the Dmitry Matheny Group. (WA based trio flugelhorn, bass drums) play a tribute to Chet Baker with local musicians on horns and pianists standing in with them. It was awesome !
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Wow that sounds like an awesome evening Lori! I was in Washington earlier this year… the jazz scene is amazing in Seattle and I’ll definitely be visiting again in the future.
Chet Baker Sextet - Alone Together (1959) from the Chet Baker album ‘Chet’.
- Chet Baker(t)
- Pepper Adams(bar.sax)
- Herbie Mann(flute)
- Bill Evans(p)
- Paul Chambers(b)
- Connie Kay(d)
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There Will Never Be Another Chet Baker…
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Chet Baker: ‘Darn That Dream’
We’ll be looking at this tune in the next jazz standard lesson 
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Another awesome vocal arrangement…
It’s interesting to hear how much his voice changed from his earlier recordings like the ones near the top of this thread.
Great listening for a lazy afternoon 
Individual records:
00:00 – Summertime
04:14 – Tenderly
10:48 - Time After Time
14:55 – Marilyn
18:23 - Secret Love
24:00 - All Blues
29:32 - Angel Eyes
34:10 - My Funny Valentine
39:30 - Darn That Dream
43:09 - Deep In a Dream
47:40 - Blue Bossa
53:15 - I Married an Angel
56:52 - Round Midnight
1:01:00 - Line For Lyons
01:04:00 - Whats New
01:09:00 - When I Fall in Love
01:13:00 - My Funny Valentine
01:18:00 - You Go to My Head
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A lovely transcription/arrangement and performance of “Almost Blue”. Pour yourself a nice single malt, turn down the lights, and enjoy.
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Yes “Almost Blue” is one of my favourite performances by Chet Baker.
Here’s the video recording of him performing the tune at his last public concert before his death:
There is some nice material over the 251s in A Minor that repeat throughout the tune. Chet’s lines are so simple yet so effective… a true genius.
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Wow, that is beautiful, isn’t it? And thanks so much for sharing the PDF. It’ll make for a good study.
Yes such an amazing performance!
If you scroll to the top of this thread there is a video of him singing My Funny Valentine which is from the same concert.
Great stuff… enjoy the transcription, and the single malt! 
I Fall In Love Too Easily - Gene Harris / Scott Hamilton Quintet
A tribute to the album: “Chet Baker Sings”.
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Nice! I liked listening to what that pianist comping was doing.
If you get a chance to see Pacific Northwest flugelhorn player Dmitri Matheny, do it. Lot of Chet influences in him…
DmitriMatheny.com
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Yes I love that record!
Thanks Lori… just checked him out and I’m a fan. I hear the influence from Chet in his phrasing and lines. Awesome player! 
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