[Dixielandjazz] Chet Baker + My Funny Valentine

[Steve Barbone]

The below website lets you hear clips from several versions of Baker on My
Funny Valentine including the up tempo version Bob Romans posted.

All, except the "Romans" version are more or less ballad tempo. Most all are
quite easily recognizable.

If you go there, several thoughts:

The last recording should point us all to where Chris Botti is coming from.
And why not, Baker was very much admired by women as a "sexy" sensitive
player. Botti seems comfortable in the "sensitive" role   :-) VBG

The next to last one is with my avant garde bassist buddy, Charlie Hayden.
You'd expect it to be far out, but it isn't.

The first 3 give us an idea of Baker's evolution as a player as he changes
his sound from Harry James vibrato to his own cool sound.

The September 1979 version is touted on the web site as being unrecognizable
at first, but many (me included) will "hear" it as MFV from the second note.

The June 1987 cut is the video Bob posted. It is musically very different
from any other version on this web site: Much more "unrecognizable" then the
version above. I think either they all got lost before Chet's solo and
started playing Autumn Leaves, or the whole tune was misidentified. Can't
tell since this is just a short clip.

Through it all we might remember that Baker was not a trained musician. He
played by ear and thus followed the chordal structure of the rhythm section.
If they got lost, he got lost. He played without a safety net.

If interested in the genius of Chet Baker check out the Valentine song
versions on the below website:

http://chetbakertribute.com/valentine.html

Cheers,
Steve Barbone