It Could Happen to You

Too bad “pretty” has become such a banal word, because the definition “pleasing by delicacy and grace” certainly describes Chet Baker’s voice on this 1958 recording. Here the trumpeter and vocalist finds himself in the studio with a crack Easy Coast band and the various accompanists, including such luminaries as Kenny Drew, Dannie Richmond and Philly Joe Jones, are sensitively supportive throughout, creating a lighter-side-of-bop backdrop for Baker to sing, play and scat over. Baker’s tone on voice and horn is wonderfully pure, but on the title track he adds a little vibrato and the effect is stunning. The cut is also graced by one of a handful of scat solos that appear on the disc. (Baker’s approach to scatting is intimate and casual; it’s interesting to compare his wordless vocalizing to the zany ways of his contemporary, Bob Dorough.) The old warhorse, “The More I See You,” is enlivened by Baker’s interesting phrasing: he runs words together so the lyrics flow in one long, unbroken line. One highlight is a heartbreaking version of “Everything Happens to Me,” a performance that encapsulates the romanticism and tragedy associated with Baker’s life.