I don't think Chet Baker would be rated by most casual jazz fans as the best male vocalist of his era...probably, he wouldn't be number one even for the trumpet on most lists. However, when you combine his better-than-average singing with his much-better-than-average horn playing and his impeccable taste in songs and his excellent choice of sidemen, you have durable art and a good value for the music lover's money. This CD combines a 1954 recording session with one in '56 using different bass players and drummers. My, does it all hold up well. Call it smooth jazz, call it lounge music, call it pop, even...it's all good. I like the '54 session better because those eight songs are a little stronger overall than the six he produced in '56. If anyone is writing songs this good now, somebody point me to them: "But Not For Me"; "Time After Time"; "I Get Along Without You Very Well"; his signature tune, "My Funny Valentine"; "There Will Never Be Another You" and "I Fall in Love Too Easily." Chet didn't write them, he just demonstrates how good the writers are. If you like lightly swinging love songs, a little trumpet improv in the middle, and a short list of some of the best three-minute pop songs of the century, buy this one. Chet ended up a tragic figure, doomed by heroin, but here he is young and full of promise, enjoying that decade inbetween the end of the Korean War and the start of the Vietnam mistake known generically as "The Fifties." Rock and Roll was just beginning when these sessions were held...ten years later, people like Chet Baker were relegated to cult-type followings, but when these performances were fresh, this kind of music held the main stage.

Of all Chet Baker recordings, this is the original from the mid-50s, and it remains the best. No quirky phrasings, just pure Chet. Don't confuse it with 'Chet Baker Sings and Plays,' a later recording with similar arrangements which seems much less fresh than the original, slower, chet's voice a bit strained and not as sincere, if that's the right word. His trumpet lags in many instances; and the piano work I found to be lacking. If you want to start a Chet collection, first get the original, CHET BAKER SINGS.

Barbara H., California poet.

As the title says, this is Chet Baker Sings, so if you're looking for his instrumental work, this isn't it. It's a tired cliche I know, but you either love or hate Baker's singing voice. I happen to love it, but if you've never heard him sing, this guy was no Louis Armstrong! Baker's fragile, soft voice often sounded just on the edge of losing the tune entirely. This might sound horrible if you've never heard him, but I think it lends a uniqely emotional edge to this collection of standards. You have to hear it to make up your mind. The closest comparison I can think of is a more subdued Morrissey of all people. Singing jazz.

Pacific Jazz puts together two recordings, from 1954 & 1956 to form this compilation, together with a surprisingly good sound for such old recordings. Baker takes you on a tour through the Great American Songbook decades before Rod Stewart thought of it, with his unique vocals and trumpet punctuation. The small combos led on both sessions by Russ Freeman pretty much stay in the background and let Baker do his thing.

One factor I take into giving stars is "playability," which is simply how often I play something. This CD gets pulled out a lot so I'm giving it 5 stars.

This is it!

If you buy one CD this year buy this one. Chet Baker had a velvet touch on the trumpet, and an almost niave, innocent voice that invites one into his world. His interpretations of these standards are entirely original and his own. He captivates the quiet intimacy of a hushed candlelight dinner. His boyish charm flows from each song.

When he sings the ensemble let's him sing when he plays the ensemble let's him play giving his talent center stage. A perfect choice for the fall drive through the changing leaves, a summer night dancing under the stars or a warm winter's evening by the fire.

I recommend you purchase "The Best Of Chet Baker Sings" instead. That album contains all of the 14 songs contained in this present album "Chet Baker Sings", plus 6 more songs that were recorded with his quartet.

"The Best Of Chet Baker Sings" has a misleading title, because it should be called: "The Complete Master Takes Of Chet Baker Sings With His Quartet".

In his excellent liner notes for "The Best Of Chet Baker Sings", Will Friedwald explains the circumstances of the recording sessions of Chet Baker with his quartet , and mentions that that that CD (Best of Chet Baker Sings) indead contains all the original master takes of Chet Baker singing with his quartet.

It seems, the original producer for these recordings later added other arrangements over these recordings, like an additional rhythm section, as well as have Joe Pass record rythm guitar over the recordings, and possibly those adulterated mixes may very well contained in the albums "Chet Baker Sings" or "My Funny Valentine". I haven't heard those. But I do own"The Best Of Chet Baker Sings", which contains all the songs as Chet Baker recorded them with his quartet, and I love them exactly that way, because Chet's voice is so sparse and haunting, I imagine, the songs sound best with minimal accompaniment.