CHET BAKER — She Was Too Good to Me (review)

CHET BAKER — She Was Too Good to Me album cover Album · 1974 · Vocal Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
The least we can say is that the late 60’s and early 70’s were not Chet’s best years. Not far from being the low point of his career (I believe his drugs problem was peaking), that period also represent a major trough in his already lengthy discography, only releasing the present album in a period of at least 5 years. So his only album of that era is relatively unrepresentative, but it’s in the CTI mould (the label it was released on), with the usual chained-to-the-studio suspects as actors, like B James, Laws, Penque, etc. but also some major stars like Desmond, Carter, JDJ, Gadd, Friedman, and a few others.

Opening on the ultra-known Autumn Leaves cover, you’ll get right away the usual soft and friendly and warm CTI sonics. Other covers like Mobley’s Deep Freeze or Mercer’s Tangerine and the album-closing You Or No One are dealt in a very standard way. You’ll also get Chet’s crooning vocals on some drippy ballad tunes like the title track or What I’ll do, but also in a quicker tune like Song In My Heart. The Cd reissue offers a bonus crooner ballad, My Future Just Passed, which fits in rather nicely with the rest of the album.

While the album does clash with the usual CTI pre-soft-jazz standard, I wouldn’t call this a typical CTI album in terms of soundscapes. And if it is one of my preferred Chet works, it is mostly because of the more modern recording techniques, but it’s not like I will find it an essential piece of my collection.
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