Chet Baker - "I Fall In Love Too Easily"

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr.  was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and vocalist. He is a legend in the Jazz world, and his cult status as an indie musician has never faded. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals (Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s.

Baker was born and raised in a musical household in Yale, Oklahoma; his father, Chesney Baker, Sr., was a professional guitar player, and his mother, Vera (née Moser), was a talented pianist who worked in a perfume factory. His maternal grandmother, Randi Moser, was Norwegian. Baker notes that due to the Great Depression, his father, though talented, had to quit as a musician and take a regular job. Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced with a trumpet when the trombone proved too large. His mother notes that Chet had begun to memorize tunes on the radio before he was even given an instrument and that after "falling in love" with the trumpet, he already developed noticeably within the first two weeks. Peers later described Baker as a "natural" musician, and that playing came effortlessly to him.

In subsequent years, the release of Baker's unfinished memoirs, As Though I Had Wings (1997) and James Gavin's Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker (2002), provided details of the jazz icon's troubled but memorable life and career. In March 2016 the Chet Baker biopic Born to Be Blue was released, starring Ethan Hawke in the role of the troubled jazz man. 

So today, with a twinge of fear mixed into the excitement, I choose Chet Baker's "I Fall In Love Too Easily", as my, I didn't know what time it was, lord help us, with a wink and a smile, song for a, give in to the sway, hold my hand, maybe this time, Tuesday.

I'm giving you both Chet's version as well as the Trumpet only Miles Davis Version. You're welcome.