Movie Review: Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker in Born to be Blue (2015)

The 2015 film Born to be Blue starred Ethan Hawke as the talented, troubled trumpet player Chet Baker. How do you make another movie about a self-destructive musician with addiction issues? Good question. Born to be Blue changed things up by starting off with Baker playing himself in a biopic, circa 1966. The movie also stars Carmen Ejogo as Jane, an actress who is playing Baker's girlfriend in the biopic. Of course, she ends up falling for Baker off-screen as well. 

Born to be Blue shows Baker's attempt to come back from a brutal assault by drug dealers, who smashed his teeth. Now fitted with dentures, Baker has to learn how to play the trumpet again. Dick Bock visits Baker in the hospital. Bock is the President of Pacific Jazz Records, where Baker made many of his most famous records during the 1950's. He asks Jane if anyone has come to visit or called on the telephone. The answer is no, and he explains to Jane that Baker has ruined every relationship in his life, and he cautions her about remaining in a relationship with Baker.

I appreciated Bock's speech to Jane. I've read a biography of Chet Baker; I've watched the great documentary Let's Get Lost. Chet Baker was a terrible human being. The only redeeming quality Chet Baker possessed was the ability to play the trumpet beautifully. Baker is the perfect poster child for separating the artist from the art. Baker's art was amazing: he created beautiful, haunting music. Yet the person who created this beauty was a dark, twisted soul: a sociopath who was addicted to heroin for the better part of thirty years and only cared about getting high. That such beauty could come out of such a damaged person is a mystery I can't explain. 

Hawke perfectly portrays Baker's odd combination of dopey naivete and cold-blooded calculation. It's an excellent performance, and Hawke has the right look for Baker, whose high cheekbones and angelic face gave him the nickname "the James Dean of jazz." 

To Baker's credit, he was able to make a comeback in the late 1960's. Maybe that was the finest thing he ever did, his shining hour. As the movie shows, Baker was off drugs as he learned the trumpet again. But he was never fully able to kick his heroin addiction, and we know all too well what happens after his successful comeback at Birdland in the movie: two more decades of drugs, nonstop gigging, with death coming from a fall out of an Amsterdam hotel window. 

I enjoyed Born to be Blue, and the excellent performances from Hawke and Ejogo. But my problem with the movie is that the trumpet playing in the movie was performed by Kevin Turcotte, not Chet Baker. I'm not trying to slam Kevin Turcotte; his trumpet playing is great. But Chet Baker had a specific tone and sound, and I knew from hearing five notes in the movie that the trumpet playing wasn't Chet Baker. I don't know if it was simply too expensive for the filmmakers to license Baker's performances, or if Baker's estate didn't allow his recordings to be used. But the impact of the music is lessened because we don't get to hear Chet Baker's playing. So it goes.  

Born to be Blue is still well worth checking out for fans of jazz and Chet Baker. 

Concert Review: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at the Dakota

Last night I saw Herb Alpert and his wife Lani Hall at the Dakota jazz club. It was a great show! Lani Hall was one of the singers in Sergio Mendes's Brazil '66 group, and she and Herb have been married for 35 years. They finally did an album together, "Anything Goes," she sings jazz standards and he accompanies her on trumpet. When my Mom and I heard that they were coming to the Dakota, we knew we had to go. My Mom was a big fan of Herb's in the 1960's, and I've really liked his music since I was a teenager. (When I was in high school, I listened to a radio station that played a lot of his songs, so I would be hearing "A Taste of Honey" and "The Lonely Bull" as I got ready for school.)

I was blown away by how good Alpert still sounds on the trumpet. His tone is rich, clear and pure, and his playing is effortless. And he's 74 years old. I've heard that playing the trumpet gets more and more difficult as you get older, but Herb sure made it look easy last night. Lani Hall has a pure voice that is easy to listen to, and her phrasing is outstanding. It was fun to watch the back and forth between them, and to hear Herb respond to her singing on his trumpet. And it was fun to see the obvious affection between them, this is a couple still very much in love after 35 years of marriage! Some of the highlights for me were a beautiful version of Paul McCartney's "Blackbird," Herb's solo take on "Till There Was You," and a lovely medley of Antonio Carlos Jobim songs played as an encore. No, Herb didn't play any of his hits from the Tijuana Brass period, although he did quote from "This Guy's In Love With You," at the end of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," and he also offered brief quotes from "Spanish Flea" and "What Now My Love." When he played the little part of "What Now My Love," I got a shiver, he sounds just like he did 40 years ago!

There were also great versions of "Anything Goes," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "That Old Black Magic," and a re-arranged "Laura." What makes Herb Alpert a great arranger is that he is able to combine disparate elements and make them into a coherent whole. His version of "Till There Was You" featured groovy percussion and finger snapping, which wouldn't seem to fit, but it sounded fantastic. It reminded me of what he did with the Tijuana Brass, combining things together into new ways and creating something new and different that sounds great. Herb and Lani's band was great as well. The band is Bill Cantos on piano, Hussain Jiffry on bass and Michael Shapiro on drums. Jiffry and Shapiro really got to shine last night, handling tricky rhythms all night long with ease.

Alpert's stage presence really surprised me. I had no idea what he would be like, but he told everybody that he wanted a very "informal" show, and then he asked if anyone had any questions. And he was serious! Eventually some people raised their hands and Herb answered their questions with charm and wit. One woman told a story about how in 1968 she was studying to be a nun, but she kept hearing his music being played by other students outside her window. She quit her studies to be a nun and never regretted it! Herb and Lani found that story very hilarious.

I was thinking the other day about what made Herb Alpert such a star in the mid-60's. I think it's just a matter of great music actually becoming popular. Sure, scorn it as mere easy listening music, but take another listen, there's a lot more there. Herb was able to cross the generational divide of the 60's. That struck me when I realized that my Mom, a college student who loved folk music and the Beatles, had lots of his albums, so did my Dad, and so did my Grandma, who turned 50 in 1966, the peak year of Alpert's popularity. His music was really appealing to everyone. (At one point in 1966, Herb had 4 albums in the Top Ten! No one else has ever accomplished this.) I can't listen to his music without smiling, perhaps the highest compliment you can pay music.