Robert Wyatt - "Different Every Time Volume 2: Benign Dictatorships" 2 x Vinyl, Compilation, 2014 (Domino)

Curated by Robert Wyatt, this is his second compilation of what he feels is his best work on the disc. The first volume was recordings under his own name, but here it is totally devoted to his collaborations with other artists.  Basically, he served on their recordings as a vocalist or even just a backup singer.  The thing is when Wyatt opens his mouth and he sings, he pretty much owns that tune.  It's not that he has the greatest voice on this planet, but as a vocalist, he's a unique presence, and in a manner, he reminds me of Chet Baker. Not that their voices are similar, but both are musicians who also sing.   

Of the seventeen songs here, I only know three songs.  They are Phil Manzanera's "Frontera," Nick Mason's "Siam," and one song under his name, but written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer,  "Shipbuilding."  Beyond that, all the artists are basically unknown (except for Bjork, Hot Chip, and Epic Soundtracks - artists that I have heard of, but really don't know their music.)   Wyatt I think is moving out of his comfort zone, and that makes him an artist of importance.  He is an excellent collaborator.  I can't say I love every track, but all of them are at the very least interesting.  Special notice to his recording of John Cage's "Experiences No. 2" which was an early Obscure Records release.  

Chet Baker - "It Could Happen To You" LP, Album, Reissue, Vinyl, 1958/1987 (Riverside)

I studied this album cover as if it's a coded message from another world.  For some reason, and you can't see it here due to the sticker, but Baker is wearing light boat tennis shoes, with the heaviest sweater possible.   Which brings to mind it is probably not winter, but spring or summer time when this photograph was taken for "It Could Happen To You."  An album, if you listen to it carefully enough, it will cause the sound of zippers opening and slips/underwear dropping to the floor.  

Chet Baker is the Johnny Thunders of Jazz.  A hopeless drug addict with the looks of a more dangerous James Dean.  His young beauty matching his soft whispering vocals must have been a hard combination to avoid with respect to a sexual adventure of some sort.  The other amazing thing is his music sounds exactly the way he looks.  His lyrical trumpet playing is soulful, and when he opens his voice, it is like the sound of a thousand pillows being puffed up. 

This is the only album I have of Chet's singing.  There are others, but I can't make a comparison, but the focus on this album is, of course, songs from the great American songbook.   Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwin brothers, and Kern/Mercer all have a presence on this album.  It's Baker's voice that conveys the desires and the angst of being in love, or in the pursuit of earthly romance. 

Backed by an excellent band with Kenny Drew on piano throughout the album, and also the magnificent drummer Philly Joe Jones and others make the musical landscape the perfect vehicle for Chet's seductive stance within the vinyl grooves.  It is also interesting to hear or compare the trumpet playing by Baker, and then how he uses his voice.  He based his vocals on the trumpet, perhaps in the same manner as Frank Sinatra being influenced by Tommy Dorsey's horn playing.  So in a sense, Chet's vocals is an instrument as well, in this exquisite landscape of romance, music, and god knows what else.