My Ideal: A Tribute to Chet Baker Sings

by Amos Lee

Overview

Pop singers turning their attention towards the classic American Popular Songbook has long been a thing, but it's not something you'd readily expect from singer/songwriter Amos Lee, who has made his name with his rustic, countryfied folk and earthy R&B. Nonetheless, Lee embraces the standards album with his warmly delivered 2022 homage My Ideal: A Tribute to Chet Baker Sings. A longtime, if somewhat quiet, fan of the iconic trumpeter/vocalist, Lee particularly gravitated to Baker's lyrical jazz recordings while in lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an affinity between the two vocalists, with Baker's laid-back style a good fit for Lee's own melodic, largely unadorned approach to singing. Sometimes pop singers, and especially artists unaccustomed to tackling the precise nature of many jazz standards, can sound stiff or pitchy. Thankfully, that's not the case with Lee, and he nicely settles into tracks like "That Old Feeling," "My Buddy," and "My Ideal." Interestingly, while you can hear how much Baker's work has affected Lee, with his tenor lilt and R&B-music influences (the late Bill Withers is a major touchstone), he often evokes the traditional pop and soul style of Smokey Robinson. It also doesn't hurt that he's surrounded himself by a stellar group of jazz musicians from his hometown of Philadelphia, including trumpeter/pianist David Streim, bassist Madison Rast, and drummer Anwar Marshall, all of whom offer lovely backing and accents to Lee's vocals. What's particularly nice is that while some of the arrangements draw direct inspiration from Baker's recordings (especially the classic 1954 Chet Baker Sings album), they offer just enough room for Lee to carve out his own space within each song. It's a vibe perhaps best expressed on his rendition of "My Funny Valentine" (arguably the song most associated with Baker) and which he tweaks here as "My Funny Valentine (For Oskar and Eli)" in a nod to the main characters from Swedish director Tomas Alfredson's acclaimed 2008 vampire film, Let the Right One In. At once dark and moody, yet imbued with the yearning romanticism of youth, the song, as with much of My Ideal, conjures an entrancing atmosphere that's hard to shake. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	12/09/2022
Label:	Dualtone Music
UPC:	0803020243811
Rank:	25342

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Amos Lee   Primary Artist,Vocals
Dave Streim   Piano,Trumpet
Madison Rast   Bass
Anwar Marshall   Drums

Technical Credits

Frank Loesser   Composer
Jerome Kern   Composer
Walter Donaldson   Composer
Greg Calbi   Mastering
George Gershwin   Composer
Ira Gershwin   Composer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Lew Brown   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Amos Lee   Photography
Jule Styne   Composer
James Van Heusen   Composer
Richard A. Whiting   Composer
Matt Dennis   Composer
Newell Chase   Composer
Ray Henderson   Composer
Michael Richelle   Engineer
Dave Streim   Producer
Buddy DeSylva   Composer
Gus Kahn   Composer
Hoagy Carmichael   Composer
Mack Gordon   Composer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Leo Robin   Composer
Tom Adair   Composer
Sammy Fain   Composer
Harry Warren   Composer
Kevin Morris   Management
Sammy Cahn   Composer
Johnny Burke   Composer
Perry Greenfield   Management
Burton Yount   Art Direction
Denise Guerin   Photography
Christian "Leggy" Langdon   Mixing
Giberto Lopez   Cover Illustration