Chet Baker Re:Imagined

今年生誕95年を迎えたジャズ界永遠のカリスマ、チェット・ベイカー。この悲劇的な英雄が遺した名盤『チェット・ベイカー・シングス』がリリース70周年を迎える2025年に、彼の音楽を現代の文脈で"re:imagine"したコンピレーションが登場!『Blue Note Re:imagined」などジャズ名曲を最先端アーティストが再解釈する人気シリーズの最新作!

本作は、その名の通りチェット・ベイカーをコンセプトとした内容で、彼が生涯で残した名録音の数々をピックアップして最先端アーティストによる再解釈を行うというもの。これまでの『Blue Note Re:imagined』、『Blue Note Re:imagined II』ではUKジャズ界のミュージシャンが収録されていたが、今回はdodieやEloise、Matilda MannといったUKのアーティストに加えて、オランダのベニー・シングス、カナダのステイシー・ライアン、韓国のSarah Kangなど幅広い地域からのアーティストも参加している。いずれもシーンの先頭で活躍するミュージシャンによるアコースティックとエレクトロニックの多彩な色彩、芸術的で情熱的な即興演奏、そして豊かにレイヤー化されたプロダクションが特徴の現代的なサウンドキャンバスに、ベイカーの崇高なメロディが投影された、注目の作品だ。

先行シングル第1弾となった「Old Devil Moon」について、dodieは「この素晴らしいコレクションで、チェットの柔らかく遊び心のある歌声の世界に生きられるなんて、とても幸運です。私たちのスタイルを融合させて、ジャズ寄りの方向に傾けるのはとても楽しい。チェット・ベイカーは2023年に私が最も聴いたアーティストだったので、お気に入りを選ぶように頼まれてとても興奮しました。選ぶのは難しかったけど、彼のゴージャスなバージョンの『オールド・デヴィル・ムーン』を聴きながら、どうやってサウンドを組むことができるかを夢見ていました」と語っている。

Trumpeter and singer Chet Baker is remembered for his lyrical West Coast jazz, a romantic style that influenced artists far beyond the jazz idiom. This influence is celebrated on the 2025 collection Chet Baker Re:Imagined. Showcased are artists from jazz, pop, and beyond reinterpreting many of the classic American Popular Songbook standards that Baker was known for. Largely unschooled, Baker was a naturally gifted vocalist, whose singing style often felt like an organic extension of his trumpet playing. He sounded unassuming, with a delivery that could seem as cool and unaffected as it was also deeply intimate and romantic, a vibe that (matched with his movie-star looks) found him dubbed the "James Dean of Jazz." Which is to say that, in comparison to virtuosic singers like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald, Baker often stuck closely to a songs melody with little improvisational variation, or "scat" improvising (though he did occasionally sing solos in the style of his trumpet playing). Its this understated, bedroom-friendly style that is the primary focus on Re:Imagined, and artists like Eloise, Hohnen Ford, and Puma Blue sink into their own half-lidded and blissed-out takes on these standards. Blues twangy, guitar-heavy reading of "Its Always You" is especially transfixing, pushing the jazz tones of the original into ever more dreamlike shoegaze headspace. Equally compelling is singer Dodies sad-eyed take on "Old Devil Moon," which feels like a cabaret harlequin doll version of Kate Bush. For more-hardcore fans of jazz and traditional pop, Matt Maltese offers a fairly reverent "My Funny Valentine," while Benny Sings harmonica-accented take on "Time After Time" nicely evokes the soulful, jazz-adjacent 70s R&B of Stevie Wonder. Chet Baker Re:Imagined pleasantly reveals the lasting influence of both Bakers work and the artful sturdiness of these songs. ~ Matt Collar

Trumpeter and singer Chet Baker is remembered for his lyrical West Coast jazz, a romantic style that influenced artists far beyond the jazz idiom. This influence is celebrated on the 2025 collection Chet Baker Re:Imagined. Showcased are artists from jazz, pop, and beyond reinterpreting many of the classic American Popular Songbook standards that Baker was known for. Largely unschooled, Baker was a naturally gifted vocalist, whose singing style often felt like an organic extension of his trumpet playing. He sounded unassuming, with a delivery that could seem as cool and unaffected as it was also deeply intimate and romantic, a vibe that (matched with his movie-star looks) found him dubbed the "James Dean of Jazz." Which is to say that, in comparison to virtuosic singers like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald, Baker often stuck closely to a songs melody with little improvisational variation, or "scat" improvising (though he did occasionally sing solos in the style of his trumpet playing). Its this understated, bedroom-friendly style that is the primary focus on Re:Imagined, and artists like Eloise, Hohnen Ford, and Puma Blue sink into their own half-lidded and blissed-out takes on these standards. Blues twangy, guitar-heavy reading of "Its Always You" is especially transfixing, pushing the jazz tones of the original into ever more dreamlike shoegaze headspace. Equally compelling is singer Dodies sad-eyed take on "Old Devil Moon," which feels like a cabaret harlequin doll version of Kate Bush. For more-hardcore fans of jazz and traditional pop, Matt Maltese offers a fairly reverent "My Funny Valentine," while Benny Sings harmonica-accented take on "Time After Time" nicely evokes the soulful, jazz-adjacent 70s R&B of Stevie Wonder. While nothing on Chet Baker Re:Imagined transcends the intoxicating timelessness of Bakers original recordings, it nonetheless pleasantly reveals the lasting influence of both his work and the artful sturdiness of these songs. ~ Matt Collar