Chet Baker
Voice Solo on
Do It The Hard Way

About

Chet Baker's voice solo is the opening of 2 solos on this recording, before Kenny Drew's closing piano statement. Spanning one chorus of the 32-bar AAAB form at a medium-up 169 BPM with a swing feel in E♭, the solo runs approximately 46 seconds. This session, recorded during Baker's European period with a Danish rhythm section, captures a moment when the trumpeter was refining his vocal identity, moving further from the bebop idiom of his early career toward a more intimate, singer-focused aesthetic. Chet Baker was 28 to 29 years old at the time of this 1958 recording.

Chet Baker was 28 to 29 years old at the time.