 Chet Baker A fine example of Chet Baker's trumpet playing, Chet Baker & Strings suffers from elevator music syndrome in a way that, say Clifford Brown & Strings does not. It's not in the playing – Chet is dead on, living up to his reputation for simple, lyrical lines with great fluidity – and it's not in the band (featuring, among others, Russ Freeman on piano, Zoot Sims on tenor sax, Bud Shank on alto sax, and Shelly Manne on drums). It might be in the strings – a 9-string ensemble that accompanies each tune – perhaps strings just don't marry well to straight-up West Coast cool jazz. The arrangements are fine, very tasteful and conservative, but a bit sappy and melodramatic in parts. Chet is in fine form, but he's not especially well served by some of the string parts. An additional complaint is that the sound is very much not up to Legacy's usual reissue standards. Many of the horn parts sound distorted and/or badly miked, and the overall feel of the record is not very warm, as it should be. It's kind of distancing, actually, the same sort of vibe I get listening to pop records on 78 – so much to connect with! The strings begin to dominate the reocrd by about the fifth track, and at that point you just sort of wish you were listening to a good old Pacific Jazz recording of Chet and the boys. Somehow the strings make the music sound much older than it is (1953, but it sounds about 1945), but as always Chet is pretty much always beautiful to listen to. Unless there are bootlegs of him trying to kick heroin; that couldn't be too smooth. Most of the cuts are love songs ("You Don't Know What Love Is," "I'm Thru With Love," "Love Walked In," "Love," "I Love You") with a few boppy tunes ("A Little Duet For Zoot and Chet," "Trickleydidlier") thrown in, plus a nice recording of Russ Freeman's "The Wind." Three bonus tracks are included (all alternate takes: "You Don't Know What Love Is," "You Better Go Now," "A Little Duet") which don't shed a tremendous amount of light on anything but which are pleasant enough. Strings is not bad, but it is pretty bland, although certainly not in the lower percentile of Chet Baker recordings. It's an album that looks more high-profile than it is, probably because it's on Columbia and they make everything they own seem important (Wow! Santana remasters!). It's neither the best nor the worst string-jazz album ever made, but it's one of the least memorable. Well-performed and smartly packaged, Chet Baker & Strings is a must for Chet diehards or suckers for string-jazz albums. Members of either camp, though, are advised to get the hell out of the house once in a while.
Review by Oberlin Orringtone |