WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT CHET BAKER? Jazz Tactics #15
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Simple is not easy. When you listen to Chet Baker, you don’t hear harmonic or rhythmic complexity on the level of Charlie Parker or Clifford Brown. He didn’t have virtuoso trumpet or vocal chops like Dizzy Gillespie or Ella Fitzgerald. He didn’t push the boundaries of music like Miles Davis or Ornette Coleman. Some will argue that Chet Baker should not be considered in the same league as these innovators-that is the view from the eye of the beholder and it is a valid argument.
What is clear is that Chet had an innate respect for and understanding of how to create and phrase a melody that endeared him to jazz fans and non-jazz fans alike. In that, he is an excellent study for anyone who strives to gain insight into the jazz language. This video, one of a sequence on solo transcription, seeks to provide examples in support of that view.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
This is the 15th video in the Jazz Tactics series, exploring elements of playing jazz music, especially improvisation, based on my book of the same name and a university course that I’ve taught for over thirty years. The sequential videos in this series will provide a solid foundation of understanding of the principles and practices of jazz improvisation, on both and aural and intellectual levels. Below are some suggestions to get you started:
Do You Speak Jazz? • YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW T...
What Makes Jazz Jazz? • TRADING FOURS WITH FRE...
Why I Can't Teach You Jazz • WHY I CAN'T TEACH YOU ...
What's So Great About Chet Baker? • TRADING FOURS WITH FRE...
Trading Fours With Freddie Hubbard • TRADING FOURS WITH FRE...
Improvising on Autumn Leaves • IMPROVISING ON AUTUMN ...
Improvising on Rhythm Changes • IMPROVISING ON RHYTHM ...
ABOUT THIS CHANNEL
On this channel, jazz trumpeter, educator and author Chase Sanborn offers information and advice for musicians and music appreciators.
PLAYLISTS
This link will take you to all the playlists on this channel:
/ @chasesanborn
LEAVE A TIP
You can leave a tip to support the work that goes into this channel by clicking the THANKS button. Thanks to YOU for watching!
MORE INFORMATION
For more in-depth and personal information and instruction, check out Chase's books and online lesson options on his website:
www.chasesanbor...
This is the 15th episode in the Jazz Tactics series. Find the others here: th-cam.com/play/PLdkYbUyqvkhSJJ4IJFoNYBtNaxiMZgNlg.html Please remember to leave a LIKE and post a question or comment below!
i SHOOK HANDS WITH HIM IN NYC,
Brush with greatness.
Chet really is my sonic hero. If music's function is to make you feel something then, for me, Chet soars above most others. Such an exquisite melancholy over a backdrop of Dulcet memories. Every time i play i hear chet's haunting tone in my head.
IMO, the function of all art is to communicate and elicit emotion.
There is something uniquely sublime about his playing that is hard to put into words.
It's hard to put music into words generally.
Playing yes but not scatting.
Nice shirt. Jazz people are some of the last people left in western culture that know how to dress. Thanks for being you.
Not that I have any choice in the matter...:)
Chet Baker was a godlike creature. Very admirable.
Not every element of Chet's life was admirable, but his musical soul is beloved by many.
As a singer, I've always thought Chet sang like a trumpet player -- and played trumpet like a singer. (Esther Phillip does a classic scat solo like that on "Scarred Knees," BTW). Glad to see you explain why I was right. :)
It's common among instrumentalists who sing (or vice versa). Louis Armstrong is a good example.
That's amazing. Forty years ago, when I was just learning how to improvise, this solo by Chet on "Autumn Leaves" was the very FIRST thing that I ever transcribed!
Good choice! It was one of my first, too.
Chet music is full of emotions and passion and pain.
That cuts to the core of his appeal.
Man I love your videos. I listen and watch so many of them and I’m not a trumpet player though I started out on it. I sing and play tenor sax. I love your jazz history videos too. They are awesome and the music you put in them are such gems. One thing I did want to say about Chet’s solos played only on trumpet misses the way the notes he chose harmonized with the chord changes. To me that’s part of his artistry. Thanks again for your informative and well made videos. All of them are a pleasure and a help to watch and listen to!
The strongest argument for transcribing solos is that the notes are heard within the overall harmonic and rhythmic context. You could play solos out of a book all day long and not have a clue about how to improvise one of your own.
"Respect for the melody of the tune" and staying within the melody of the song that's pretty
much the description of "cool jazz" as opposed to bebop
The key element, regardless of genre, is that the player internally relates everything they play to the melody, regardless of how far they stray from actually playing it. In Chet's solo on I Fall in Love he doesn't play the melody, but the relationship to it is clear. For an example of Charlie Parker's respect for melody I point to Bird with Strings.
Autumn leaves was the first transcription I ever learned… Out of that book.. you know. Tonite, I found myself singing along with you there. I haven’t thought about that solo in ages. But there it was. Chase sounding lovely here, btw.
Thanks, AJ. That you could hear in your mind the original recording from my representation shows the deeper level of absorption that comes from transcription.
This is great, Chase!
When I played recordings of Maynard and then of Chet, my non trumpet playing friends always chose Chet: "More of him!"
No surprise there, and no disrespect to Maynard, who set the standard for powerhouse trumpet. Chet resides in another part of the spectrum, and I think it's fair to say it appeals to a wider swath of the listening public. Fortunately, when it comes to music, we can have it all!
Very cool video. I’m gonna share with one of my students.
Let me know their reaction!
In our big band, I keep track of the soloists easily by playing the melody in my mind. I have to remember to honor the melody more in my own soloing.
Chet is an example of how to improvise on the melody, rather than the chord changes.
love the concept of playing the solo over the melody played
It's a graphic representation of having the melody in mind underlying improvisation.
Chets scat solo om it could happen to you and his rendering of she was to good to me
Astonishing
I don't play a trumpet or sing. I think Chet Baker played the trumpet 🎺 the best. His vocals are magical. I love listening to him, i own many cds of his music.
'The best' is always a subjective term, but there is no question that the appeal of Chet's approach is broad based.
@@chasesanborn I saw Miles Davis in concert in the 1980s. He has been considered one of the greatest trumpet players of all time. I prefer to listen to Chet.
Neither Miles nor Chet played the trumpet on the level of, say, Freddie Hubbard or even Wynton Marsalis. But in improvised music, the compositional aspects are as significant as the performance aspects. Miles was a musical visionary who was at the forefront of multiple musical revolutions, for which he stands nearly alone as one of the most consequential figures in the evolution of the music. But Miles' elevated status as innovator or Freddie's as trumpet virtuoso do not take away from the simple beauty of Chet's approach, nor do they diminish the enjoyment a huge number of people get from listening to him. Fortunately, as I suggested in another comment, we don't have to choose one over the other on any basis except personal preference.
People like Chet because he was a great Baker
It might have been an experience to have Chet Baker cook for you.
That phrase of Chet's that you zeroed in on (around 5:37) sounds like a quote from "Sweet Georgia Brown"! 🙂
Whether by conscious or unconscious choice, it uses the same notes and a similar rhythm to the final phrase. Not that far off from the A section in I Got Rhythm for that matter.
@@chasesanborn That too! (...And actually, your take is better than mine on the point!... 🙂
brilliant, thanks!
Thanks for that!
Sounds beautiful Chase! Love your series.
Thanks Dennis. Knowing you are watching will keep me honest. :)
@@chasesanborn Haha
Great!
Concise!
muchas gracias.
You're welcome!
He certainly did play fast in his younger days!😀
Didn't we all...:)
You mentioned that Chet doesn't spend a lot of time up in Maynard Ferguson's playground. How high DOES Chet go? Have you ever looked at where most of his playing happens? It seems to me that lower range and slower pacing fits in with the intimacy of the cool jazz scene, as opposed to the frenetic machine-gun riffs of be-bop. Also makes sense with his vocals -- he's a crooner not a wailer. Just my opinion, natch.
It has been said by some great high note trumpet players that most of the music happens below high C. Chet is a great example of that.
@@chasesanborn That must be Allen Vizzutti.
@@Li_Ao I have always attributed the quote to Allen (99% of the music and 90% of the money).
He didn't go silly high but he did play very fast in many tunes. He played at a regular pace in most tunes, but would often throw in some extremely fast sequences.
Check out his recordings of Leaving in the 1980s, for example, where he starts off really slow and gradually builds up until he is going incredibly fast. He does the same in Portrait in Black and White in Tokyo, which contains an unbelievably fast sequence.
I think you are counting the trees instead of enjoying the forest. Chet improvised in the KEY not the chord. He had an intuitive sense of the chord progression . Anyone who can SIGHT SING can have a party with Chet's music. PLaying the vocal melody with the improvised chorus is not really productive except to re-inforce Chet's pull toward the tonic ("Respect for the melody") in BOTH entities. His sound is his true legacy and his ability to sound as if he was singing while he played and sound as if he was singing when he played. ....the goal in jazz is to sound as if you are singing. He did with very few others.
It's one thing to walk through the forest, another to make a career out of forestry. That said, my primary points in the video are the ones you suggest: respect for the melody and an overall focus on the key rather than individual chords.
@@chasesanborn Chase: Amen! It's hard to play "wrong notes" when you're in the right key!
@@thomassiebenhuhner4062 Or as Miles said, it's the note you play next that determines whether it's right or wrong.
@@chasesanborn no bad notes - only bad resolutions.
Nadie toca como chet....
Chet Baker has fans and non-fans, as we can see from other comments (to the point that one person took issue with me personally for even suggesting that he is deserving of merit), but that in itself implies individuality. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.
@@chasesanborn no soy fanático, pero jamas he oído a nadie tocar como el, nadie asulotamente nadie ni siquiera a día de hoy suena como Chet, es único, imagina cuan grande era en los 50' hay que ponerse en contexto, los que critican a chet. Ninguno de esos seguramente se les acerca, quien puede hace y quien no, critica jajaj saludos amigo.
Chet Baker is the Mozart of Jazz trumpet. Not the Liszt, not the Bach. The Mozart.
Thanks for that!
I hate Chet Baker. I am here because my ensemble has asked me to choose a Chet Baker song. I’m sorry for this comment but he is a boring boring vocalist. Oh thank you for letting me say this and I’m so sorry to comment but I had to. I cry inside when I
Listen to his mumbling scats like he’d just gotten out of bed and couldn’t muster any mojo or inventiveness 😢
Thank you for your video.
Perhaps you could do a vocal version of one of Chet's trumpet solos?
I also don't care for his scat singing, but he sings really nicely on some tunes, like Moon and Sand, Almost Blue, You Go to My Head and For All We Know.