Chet Baker Sings It Could Happen to You in Bloomington, MN

The ultra-hip and sophisticated "cool jazz" that
Chet Baker
(trumpet/vocals) helped define in the early '50s matured rapidly under the tutelage of producer
Dick Bock
. This can be traced to
Baker
's earliest sides on
Bock
's L.A.-based
Pacific Jazz
label. This album is the result of
's first sessions for the independent
Riverside
label.
The Chet Baker Quartet
featured on
Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You
includes
Kenny Drew
(piano),
Sam Jones
(bass), and
Philly Joe Jones
(drums). (Performances by bassist
George Morrow
and drummer
Dannie Richmond
are featured on a few cuts.) This results in the successful combination of
's fluid and nonchalant West Coast delivery with the tight swinging accuracy of drummer
Jones
and pianist
Drew
. Nowhere is this balance better displayed than the opening and closing sides on the original album,
"Do It the Hard Way"
and
"Old Devil Moon,"
respectively. One immediate distinction between these vocal sides and those recorded earlier in the decade for
is the lissome quality of
's playing and, most notably, his increased capacity as a vocalist. The brilliant song selection certainly doesn't hurt either. This is an essential title in
's 30-plus year canon. [Some reissues contain two bonus tracks,
"I'm Old Fashioned"
"While My Lady Sleeps"
]. ~ Lindsay Planer