Customer Reviews

Chet (20 Bit Mastering)

5 star:		(17)
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I own 20 Chet Baker CDs, and I play them virtually every day. As a "50 something" jazz fan with over 250 jazz CDs I can honestly say that the only time my wife will join me in the music room is when I have a Chet Baker Cd playing. I think that this is significant...Chet Baker's appeal seems to cross over more lines than that of any other jazz performer. I used to think that it was the VOICE that grabbed my wife's attention, but her favorite Chet Baker album is this one..."CHET". This album has no singing. It does have 9 extended cuts of standards played perfectly by Chet Baker and a sextet of brilliantly accomplished musicians. Some of the personnel matchups are (for me) like a dream come true: Chet Baker and Bill Evans; Chet Baker and the great Kenny Burrell; Chet and Herbie Mann.

I think the keys to this albums great success are easy to define: 1. A lucid and motivated Chet Baker on trumpet 2. A tremendous group of "name" musicians 3. A great grouping of excellent jazz standards. 4. An adequate amount of playing time to develop and explore each piece completely.

I do admit that I love ballads and never find an album completely composed of "mood" songs or "slow" songs boring. This is an album totally devoted to the ballad, so if you are looking for bop or up tempo stuff I suggest that you look elsewhere. But if you know Mr. Baker's lyrical approach to jazz or if you appreciate the almost zen like quality of Miles Davis'"Kind of Blue" album, then I am sure you will appreciate "Chet".

I think that this CD is timeless and of the highest quality available. There are times on this album (You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" is one) when Chet Baker is off in a world of beauty of his own. The rest of the band tries to play with him, but Chet has moved to another plane leaving the listener to sit in almost stunned amazement, and plan the next Chet Baker Cd purchase.

I hope that you will try this CD. I am very sure that you will find it to be one of the permanent jazz classics if you do. Cheers!

Such a beautiful, beautiful recording from a life fraught with tragedy.

I guess I pretty much sum it up with the caption above. This is my favorite Chet Baker recording ever. I own approximately 12 other Chet cd's, yet this is the one I play over and over and over.

This is Chet at his best. A, fairly, young Chet, still in his prime. It's very smooth, soft, and laid back. Pefect Chet. No singing Chet here though. In order to hear the naivete at it's best, you'll just have to pick up "Chet sings."

In short, I love this recording. It's one of the best out there. And lastly, Chet's version of "September Song" is one of the best you will EVER hear.

Feeling stressed by events of the day? Then by all means, purchase this CD and pop it into your stereo. This is a total stress reducer. There's no singing on this album, it's all ballads. Chet is surrounded by a host of jazz greats -- including Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones -- and the sound is rich, delicate, and soothing. Recorded in the late 1950s, the 20 bit, K2 remastered version sounds great. You can almost hear the breathing.
Highly recommended.

This is perhaps the ultimate mood jazz record. Trumpet player Chet Baker, then at the height of his creative powers, chose to do an album entirely made up of ballads. He found excellent support for his project by musicians such as Herbie Mann (flute), Pepper Adams (baritone saxophone) and the fabulous Bill Evans (piano). Alone Together, the first track, is a good demonstration of what this album is all about. It is introduced by a few, widely spaced notes by Bill Evans, which lead to Baker's first brief solo, very soft, very lonely, but after which you will probably already have forgotten all your worldly worries while you are sitting snuggled up in your favourite armchair. Pepper Adams and Herbie Mann, with a very sombre tone, follow with brief solo spots, which sustain the very quiet after hours mood very well. After that, Connie Kay's drums set in and the pace quickens slightly, backing another, longer solo by Chet, before the whole group returns to the mood of the beginning of the tune. This mood is sustained throughout the album, and I think that there is simply no better record for a dark, rainy afternoon than this one. Despite the fact that 45 years have passed since its recording, the superior sound quality of the original plus the 20 Bit Mastering make this an outstanding record.
Many albums are out that supposedly contain relaxing, moody jazz, with titles using such terms as Lounge Jazz, Bar Jazz and many more. All these records intend to do is to supply you with music that can be listened to without much strain, i.e. music that will be well suited for a quiet evening. Unfortunately, not many of these collections are any good, since they either contain a poor choice of tunes, including many tunes that are none too pleasant, or they are simply too shallow. None of these faults can be found on this album. There is no tune that breaks the mood, nor is the playing in any way shallow. And for once, I will quote the liner notes that say "above all there is an overall cohesiveness and beauty that makes this [...] an unusually pleasurable and warm listening experience." Right he is.

Of the dozenn or so Chet Baker recordings I own, "Chet" is my favorite. You will have to look elsewhere for Mr. Baker's vocal stylings, but for an overview of his unique technique on the trumpet, look no further. These are the songs Mr. Baker plays best: romantic ballads, and slow tempo standards. His cool, laid back, restricted octave interpretations of "You and the Night and the Music" and "It never entered my Mind" are definitive "Cool Jazz" recordings of these standards. The back up musicians, noteably Bill Evans on Piano, provide the perfect backdrop to Mr. Baker's one-of-a-kind trumpet playing. You can feel the melancholy emotion in Baker's playing in "September Song". Baker's trumpet playing from approximatly this time forward loses some of its unique tone and timbre for me. Just as his voice lost some of its "pureness" as Mr. Baker aged, so does his trumpet playing lose some of its wonderful softness and lack of any edginess in later recordings. Perhaps that is related to his losing all his teeth and relearning to play the trumpet from scratch. In any event, I like the sound of Mr. Baker's trupet playing the best on "Chet". In sum, exquisite trumpet playing, great backup players, shrewd choice of material, and state of the art recording (for the time), yields the definitive Chet Baker CD for me. If I had to throw away or sell all my Chet Baker CDs and keep one, "Chet" would be the one I kept. It also is in the top ten jazz CD's I would want to have on a desert island (along with a sound system), out of about 175 discs I own.

Chet lived in a world of 40's romanticism all of his life. I think this unattainable romantic ideal was all he really wanted in his sad life. This is early Chet at his best.

"Cool" for Chet Baker meant lyrical, sentimental and melancholy. Like Frank Sinatra's torch songs played on trumpet he stayed close to the melodic line. Just as with Sinatra, you can feel the emotional "truth" of his musical statement.

After a rough day, cuddle up with someone you love late at night, sip estate bottled Cognac and let Chet remove the cares of the day.

Good recording, great performance. 5 stars = a Jazz classic. If you're new to Jazz, this is a great place to start.

I own a lot of jazz recordings, read reviews of lots more and submit reviews of very few. However, this one will send chills down your spine. If you can't seduce your love interest while this one is playing, it sure isn't the music that's at fault. Turn down the stars.....

Along with Kind of Blue, this album is essential for any jazz collection-PERIOD

This is Chet at his best when it comes to trumpet playing. "My Funny Valentine" is my favorite of Chet's singing albums and this is my favorite album of his showcasing his amazing ability on the trumpet. You can definitely hear how Miles Davis influenced him. The CD recording couldn't sound better, it's crisp, clean, and clear as can be. The music is very rich and soothing, it's perfect for a quiet night at home or a rainy day. Chet's group is made up of some of the top jazz musicians ever - Pepper Adams (sax), Bill Evans (piano), Kenny B. (guitar), Herbie Mann (flute) and Miles' favorite drummer and one of mine Philly Joe Jones. This is one of those albums that if you are new to jazz or would like to introduce perhaps a friend or loved one to jazz I would highly recommend purchasing this album along with "Kind of Blue" (Miles), "My Favorite Things" (Coltrane), "Song for My Father" (Horace Silver), "Sidewinder" (Lee Morgan), "Brilliant Corners" (Monk), "Take Five" (Brubeck), etc...

This is essential to anyone's music collection! I would have to rate this one as one of the all-time best. Great intro to jazz music.

The disc is fantastic piece of musical work. But it. You won't be disappointed.