This album was Chet Bakers first vocal album and an unlikely success.
Critics (and even the producer) at the time perceived the vocals of lacking power and an innocence that would not resonate with fans of the contemporary jazz vocalists and singers like Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole.
However it is precisely the understated elegance and naivety of Bakers vocal delivery that pulls you in and made this album a hit.
Obviously Baker’s main strength was his trumpet playing - but this album serves as a great starting point for anyone seeking an entry into sophisticated midnight hours jazz.
Tunes by the great American songwriters -Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael and Rogers and Hart are covered - and these versions would sustain Baker throughout his career.
Tunes such as “But Not For Me” , “My Funny Valentine” and “I Fall in Love Too Easily” - with the smooth understated vocals and the delicate trumpet, would provide the soundtrack of sophisticated cool for several generations up to the present time.
Go check it out here: