Wine and Cheese: Kurt Cobain and Chet Baker

Through their own melancholic sentiments, Kurt Cobain and Chet Baker both take old songs and deliver them in a new light, parallelly exploring the more pensive side of past lyricism.

It’s your dream collab. The artists you add back-to-back to the queue. The pairing you can’t get enough of. You know they sound good together, but why? Welcome to Wine and Cheese, a series investigating the why and telling you all about it.

Written by James Navarro

Photos courtesy of William Claxton and Frank Micelotta

An essential element in the formation of new music is building off of what others before you have accomplished. Music continually evolves through small variations and developments of others’ ideas. Although jazz trumpet player Chet Baker and grunge artist Kurt Cobain differed significantly in the genres they performed, they both took once cheerful songs and added a melancholic yet warm twist to them. These innovations presented covers of earlier written music in a new, unique manner, which highlighted new themes by intertwining romance and deliverance with “feeling blue.” This not only provided the audience with remarkably great music, but it explored the sad side of love; namely lingering regret when moving on — and even feelings of unrequited love. 

Baker, who was best known for his vocally focused albums, was originally a trumpet player. Regardless, Baker reflected similar moods with his instrument as he did with his voice. Take “It’s Always You,” a ritzy, showy arrangement originally written by Johnny Burke and performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller. Contrary to how it was originally sung and played, Baker delivered a once grand tune with an elegant and somber tone. The lines “If I hear a melody / It's merely the way you sigh” resonate with the listener much more strongly by presenting the sentimental lyrics with a tenderness that better highlights the romantic theme of the tune.

Subsequently, Baker mirrored this serene feeling with his solo after the opening verses. Similar to how Baker delivered lyrics under a soft, romantic lens, the solo shares the same sentiment. It’s soft, sweet, and somewhat flirtatious, which makes the listener feel as if they are being serenaded, further drawing them into the song. Baker once mused, “I don't know whether I'm a trumpet player who sings, or a singer who plays the trumpet.” Whether he is playing or singing, his bittersweet style is quickly recognized. And, with every listen, Baker is able to place the listener in a warm and intimate atmosphere. Both facilities are merely an extension of his genius and sentiment. 

Baker was incredibly influential in the jazz scene, along with Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, and Dizzy Gillespie. Before the Second World War, lively tempos and complex chord changes —  otherwise known as bebop — were the most prevalent stylistic idioms of jazz at the time. Musicians such as Baker took a step in the opposite direction, writing and performing slower, more lucid tunes that eventually solidified into the genre of “cool jazz.” Consequently, Baker acquired the nickname “The Prince of Cool” and continued to sway general audiences and fellow musicians alike with his warm and comforting voice — in song and through his trumpet.

While Cobain’s genre markedly differs from Baker’s in its emphasis on guitar and rougher vocals, dark and solemn themes surface in his covers as well. One of Cobain’s most popular — and arguably best — covers is “And I Love Her” off of Montage Of Heck: Home Recordings. The track was originally written and performed by The Beatles. It’s a tender and mildly upbeat love song that features bouncy percussion and lighthearted vocals from Paul McCartney. In his famous home recordings, Cobain covered this song, putting his own twist on it. What was once a poppy love song was now a melancholic “slacker rock” song featuring Cobain’s signature droning vocal fry and jangly guitar. The gloomy track comforts the listener similarly to Baker’s mellow, somewhat somnolent approach to performing.

In the same vein, Cobain covered “The Man Who Sold The World,” originally written and performed by David Bowie. Cobain’s interpretation of this song continues in a similar fashion, demonstrating his signature inflections and overall vocal frailty, which help contribute to the dark tone of the song. Although the original and cover share a key and nearly identical tempos, Cobain redevelops a once joyous song about a man confronting past mistakes into a somber tune that better highlights the underlying theme of regret pervading Bowie’s lyrics.

While the styles of both musicians vastly contrast, the underlying themes of solemnity and melancholy are reflected within their respective discographies. Their instrumentation and melodic techniques differ, yet they share the same sentiment in their voice. Both were able to present classic songs in new lights, emphasizing new, solemn moods and continuing to direct listeners to discover the original writers. Both artists pair remarkably well when searching for a subdued back-to-back pair on a playlist, regardless of their stylistic disparity.