Pianist and vocalist
Eliane Elias pays tribute to legendary jazz trumpeter/vocalist
Chet Baker on her 2013 album
I Thought About You. Featuring a selection of standards strongly associated with
Baker,
Elias mixes her native Brazilian bossa nova with swing, straight-ahead jazz, and even a few bluesy flourishes with much aplomb. The album, produced by
Elias' husband, bassist
Marc Johnson, also features guitarists
Steve Cardenas and
Oscar Castro-Neves, drummers
Victor Lewis and
Rafael Barata, and percussionist Marivaldo Dos Santos. Also adding more than a few moments of deft and thoughtful improvisation is trumpeter
Randy Brecker.
As
Baker grew up listening to the music of the '30s and '40s, many of his own choices for songs to play were informed by the great songbook of those decades.
Baker also had a natural inclination toward a pretty melody and romantic lyric and he never failed to pick great songs to perform. Subsequently,
Baker's recordings showcase a superb batch of tunes to choose from.
Elias, who has also leaned toward playing melodic, often romantic music, is a perfect conduit for reinterpreting
Baker. Here she plays such songs as "There Will Never Be Another You," "Let's Get Lost," "Just Friends," "Embraceable You," and "I Get Along Without You Very Well." ~ Matt Collar