Quintessence (Vol. 2)

Stan Getz, Chet Baker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 5, 2011)
• Original Release Date: February 1, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Concord Records
• ASIN: B00003ZA5Y
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,000 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #21 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Cool Jazz
  • #61 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Modern Post Bop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The followup to Quintessence, Volume 1 documents more of Stan Getz and Chet Baker's February 1983 concert in Norway. Fortunately, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company recorded the reunion of these two lyrical, instrumental voices. Both men, in particular the hard-living Baker, were well past their primes at this point, yet each still had enough left, both in terms of technique and of having something to say, to make this an essential recording for fans. For those new to either man's work, however, there are many better records to start with. Still, this polite and well-played seven-song set, which includes tunes by Sonny Rollins ("Airegin"), Billy Strayhorn ("Blood Count"), and Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn ("You or No One"), and which contains nary a word of between-song patter, has many moments where Getz's famous "lovely" and lyrical tone is undeniably gorgeous. Baker, to his credit, makes the most of his solo spaces, his diffident, Miles Davis-influenced lines providing a good foil for Getz's more aggressive exhortations. The interplay between the two on tunes like "I'll Remember April" is predictably cool and airy, but also a great deal weaker in tone and ideas than it might have been a decade or two earlier. For those golden moments, try the two-CD West Coast Live. --Robert Baird

Product Description

Quintessence (Vol. 2) by Stan Getz Quartet, Chet Baker

This product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better late than never, May 1, 2005

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quintessence (Vol. 2) (Audio CD)

This music is too late in the careers of either of the principals to live up to the title of the album, which nonetheless contains some extraordinary playing. "I'll Remember April," one of the best tunes in the American Songbook, has a tendency to limit freedom somewhat because of its insistent, programmatic chord structure. Not so here. In fact, this is a version I'm ranking up there with the Erroll Garner and Clifford Brown-Sonny Rollins recordings of the tune, maybe even higher. Getz lives up to expectations, and Chet beyond them. He's so free and "at home" with the tune that you'd think he was playing on blues changes or a single mode. Not a note is out of place. Nothing is wasted, yet nothing is missed. Somehow he manages to account for every harmonic turn without the least trace of "running the changes." Sublime and exemplary playing by a legend who even at this stage in his career could show he was capable of outdoing himself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars unjustly maligned record, January 16, 2004

By 

Bobo Da Klown "Night Rocker" (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quintessence (Vol. 2) (Audio CD)

I am surprised at the beating the Quintessence releases have received. Stan and his band are in fine form, so even without Chet Baker this would be a solid CD. True, Chet's contributions are minimal in parts but he gets plenty of opportunities to shine--and Getz rarely steps over him, as many have stated. Perhaps the knowledge of underlying tension between Getz and Baker cause many to not listen with an open mind. That would be a shame, since even though Getz/Baker were not a match made in heaven as it would have seemed, this release is a valuable document of a collaboration that would soon end--much to the dismay of this listener.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars somewhat better than Quintessence 1, February 11, 2000

By 

rash67 (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Quintessence (Vol. 2) (Audio CD)

Nine years or so after Getz death and a decade or more after Baker's we are reaching the bottom of their barrel of lost performances by these two lyrical Cool Jazz Giants.

Somewhat better than Quintessence 1, in that the Baker, who seemed in Q1 to be so intoxicated as to be unable to sing on-key, DOESN'T sing here. (don't get me wrong, I like Baker's early singing)

Playing by both seems pleasant and workmanlike but occationally oddly unemotional, burned out and effete, but not necesarily cool. Not either man's best efforts, but not their worst.

I notice than Concord has not seen fit to provide samples of the sound.

Getz arabesque treatment of "Blood Count" stands out, he has played this on many records and it's always intreguing, he never seems to play a song the same way twice. It's a wonder his band was able to so closely follow his ever-changing direction! Stan always seems to know when to play the melodic line and when to improvise. "Conception" which appears on this CD was last recorded by Getz in the very early 50's, as far as I know.

I hope Stan Getz son Steve will continue to try to discover lost Getz masterpieces.

by MY rating system, two & 1/2 ** means listenable but not equal to their best.