This lovely song was written by the legendary Hoagy Carmichael in 1939. Hoagy was a primogenitor of the Bacharach–David combo, writing vapid love songs for a public bereft of joy. His most renowned song is “Georgia on my mind”, which became the signature tune of blues artist Ray Charles. Carmichael penned around 40 songs that entered the charts.
Chet Baker does this song a treat. He has such a sedate, even insouciant, air about him, which suits the lyric. He tackles this song tentatively: he surely couldn’t sing any softer. The boyish Chesney Henry Baker Jr. learned to sing in church, like so many black stars before and after. He got his early break when selected by Charlie Parker to play in his entourage in 1951 (Chet was just 22). His talent on trumpet and flugelhorn were evident to all, but his early claim to fame was the song “My Funny Valentine”, which he sang as a member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. His wispy, innocent, cherubic tone was a winner. He transferred the poignant, pathetic treatment of that song into his other big hit, “I get along without you”. This skinny kid from Oklahoma was now an icon of the West Coast “school of jazz”. His boyish, pretty looks led one jazz scribe to describe the promise of his early career as “James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one”. Wow! Some wrap. Yea, James Dean minus the strut. Baker did feature in a move in ’55; but he felt more at home in the jazz scene.
And that became his downfall. In the US jazz scene of the 50s jazz meant drugs (examples are Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan and John Coltrane). Baker became a heroin addict early on, and it eventually killed him. Just like Hendrix, he died alone in a European hotel room (in Amsterdam). What a tragedy. Such a waste of talent. Just take a look at the photos in his later life: he became a spectre, a mere shell of the young man he’d been, heavy lines drawn on his face, looking and sounding like the wretch he had become.
He was 59 when he died. However, just two years before, he played in his last gig, at the home of jazz in London, Ronnie Scott’s. The intimate setting was perfect for Chet: the audience could soak up his pathos. To embellish the night, Elvis Costello and Van Morrison were on deck. They were there to pay their dues to this moribund jazzman. Both songs were magic. Elvis sang “The Very Thought of You”, while the reclusive Morrison did a great version of “Send in the clowns”. Considering Chet’s state, these songs were funereal. Another one bites the dust. RIP.
Ralph's World of Music 