While The Beatles were out playing teenybopper nonsense, Chet Baker was producing pop records that rival the almighty “Sgt.Pepper’s.”
The recordings made in Rome, 1962 by Ennio Morricone and Chet Baker display such a level of badassery that it makes it difficult to write
about. The recordings were issued as single 45s by Victor RCA and
were co-written by lyricist Alessandro Maffei and Baker himself. The
recordings were made available on compact disc format on the album
“Chet is Back”, listed as bonus tracks. All four tracks were arranged
and conducted by Ennio Morricone, so expect a lush soundscape
straight out of Walt Disney’s most psychedelic dream. The first track,
“Chetty’s Lullaby,” opens with a chordal sway played on an elegant
brass section accompanied by a haunting glockenspiel (immediately
bringing to mind Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory). The sway
is interrupted by a lyrical cadenza soaring out of Chet’s spell casting
horn. Suddenly a torrential string section builds to a crescendo, introducing Bakers sensual croon. The voice seems to glide and float above
a soft rhythm section, the piano responds with sass but Baker’s tone
remains mellow. The band plays as they would in the latest, loneliest
jam sessions. Just when you’ve forgotten that you were listening to
an Ennio Morricone arrangement a tremolo of strings cut through.
All of a sudden the song begins to swing, as it steers us toward an
inevitable trumpet solo. All the elements are in - the glockenspiel, the
strings, the brass, the band and a cool solo by Chet Baker. The song
closes with one of Morricone’s signature elements, the voice choir.
The second song, “So Che Ti Perderò,” is a moody and melancholic
ballad. The tra