The ultra-hip and sophisticated "cool jazz" that
Chet Baker (trumpet/vocals) helped define in the early '50s matured rapidly under the tutelage of producer
Dick Bock. This can be traced to
Baker's earliest sides on
Bock's L.A.-based Pacific Jazz label. This album is the result of
Baker's first sessions for the independent Riverside label. The
Chet Baker Quartet featured on
Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You consists of
Kenny Drew (piano),
Sam Jones (bass), and
Philly Joe Jones (drums). These were likewise augmented with performances by
George Morrow (bass) and Danny Richmond (drums) on a few cuts. This resulted in the successful combination of
Baker's fluid and nonchalant West Coast delivery with the tight swinging accuracy of
Philly Joe Jones and
Kenny Drew. Nowhere is this balance better displayed than the opening and closing sides on the original album, "Do It the Hard Way" and "Old Devil Moon," respectively. One immediate distinction between these vocal sides and those recorded earlier in the decade for Pacific Jazz is the lissome quality to both
Baker's playing and, most notably, his increased capacity as a vocalist. The brilliant song selection certainly doesn't hurt either. This is an essential title in
Chet Baker's 30-plus-year canon. ~ Lindsay Planer