CHET BAKER - ALMOST BLUE

ALMOST BLUE

CHET BAKER

INSTRUMENT: TRUMPET

COMPOSER: ELVIS COSTELLO

ALBUM: CHET BAKER IN TOKIO

LABEL: PACIFIC JAZZ RECORDS

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1988

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (Yale, Oklahoma, 23 de dezembro de 1929 – Amesterdão, 13 de maio de 1988) foi um trompetista e cantor de jazz norte-americano.

"Almost Blue" is a song by Elvis Costello that appears on the 1982 album Imperial Bedroom by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It is said to be inspired by Chet Baker's version of the song "The Thrill Is Gone". Baker closed the circle by recording the song for Let's Get Lost (1988), a Bruce Weber documentary film about Baker's life. Baker also performed the song at concerts and it was recorded for his live album Chet Baker in Tokyo (recorded 1987, released posthumously 1988).

Especialistas dividem a vasta obra do músico em duas etapas: a fase cool, do início da sua carreira, mais ligada ao virtuosismo jazzístico, e a outra, a partir de 1957, quando a sensibilidade na interpretação torna-se ainda mais evidente.

Para tocar as músicas, Chet apenas pedia o tom. Económico nas notas (ao contrário de outros trompetistas, como Dizzy Gillespie, que preferiam o virtuosismo), improvisava com sentimento. Certo dia, deram-lhe o tom errado de uma música de propósito, e mesmo assim Chet Baker conseguiu encontrar um caminho harmónico. Valorizava as frases melódicas  com notas longas e encorpadas, o que acabou valendo-lhe o rótulo de cool.

Almost blue

Almost doing things we used to do

There's a girl here and she's almost you

Almost

All the things that your eyes once promised

I see in hers too

Now your eyes are red from crying

Almost blue

Flirting with this disaster became me

It named me as the fool who only aimed to be

Almost blue

It's almost touching it will almost do

There's a part of me that's always true... always

Not all good things come to an end now, it is only a chosen few

I have seen such an unhappy couple

Almost me

Almost you

Almost blue