Ann Baker

Chet Baker - This Time The Dream's On Me, Chet Baker Quartet Live, Volume 1 (1954) {Pacific Jazz 7243 5 25248 2 2 rel 2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 388 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 167 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1953-54, 2000 Pacific Jazz / Capitol Records | 7243 5 25248 2 2
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

3 great Pacific Jazz CD's chronicling Chet Baker and Russ Freeman's live performances. This is where you really start to hear Chet find his own sound. He starts branching out on the two My Funny Valentine's found here, and his recordings of Stella By Starlight sound like the one's he did in the 1980's. The recording quality is pretty average in Volume 1, but it improves in Volume 2 and 3, especially considering how noisy American Jazz clubs used to be. Zing Went The Strings of My Heart is amazing, and it's one the fastest tempo tune Baker ever recorded. On several cuts, he plays the "Boo-bams", a bongo-type instrument invented by his friend Bill Loughborough.

Chet Baker’s Quartet with Russ Freeman was one of the best combos of its time. The May 9, 1954 concert at Ann Arbor took place at the city’s Masonic Temple, and was originally issued as Jazz at Ann Arbor. Presented here is the Ann Arbor concert in its entirety, along with, as a bonus, five quartet sides recorded by Chet in a Paris studio in 1955 during his first European tour, among them another version of the classic "Lover Man".

Chet Baker - Jazz At Ann Arbor (1954) {Pacific Jazz Japan Mini LP TOCJ-9441 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 283 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 30 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remastered by Ron McMaster
© 1954, 2002 Pacific Jazz / Toshiba-EMI | TOCJ-9441 | Mini LP | Mono
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

Chet Baker (trumpet) was arguably at the peak of his prowess when captured in a quartet setting at the Masonic Temple in Ann Arbor, MI, May 9, 1954. He's joined by Russ Freeman (piano), Carson Smith (bass) and Bob Neel (drums), all of whom provide ample assistance without ever obscuring their leader's laid-back and refined style. Baker's sublime sounds also garnered notice from critics, who had placed him atop polls in both Metronome and Down Beat magazines the previous year.

5 CD's exclusive collection by Duth rock band George Baker Selection released in 2008 on EMI Music Netherlands BV, includes 100 tracks. George Baker Selection was rock band of Hoorn, Netherlands. In 1967, George Baker (Johannes Bouwens) was living in Wormerveer and joined the band Soul Invention, a soul band which played covers of songs by Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. They changed their name to "George Baker Selection", Bouwens naming himself for a character from a detective novel. The band consisted of Jan Hop, Jacobus Greuter, George The, and Jan Visser. Their first album, Little Green Bag (1970), produced an immediate worldwide hit: their debut single, "Little Green Bag" reached No. 16 on the Cash Box magazine chart and No. 21 on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States.

This version of Ariodante seems to have been released as long ago as 2000, soon after it was recorded, deleted and now reissued. If the deletion was due to poor initial sales, I hope that its reappearance will remedy the problem: this version has a great deal going for it.
The English National Opera revival of their production in June, 2006, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3; I have listened to the recording which I made of that broadcast with great pleasure. Though much less well known than Nicholas McGegan, who directed an earlier ENO revival and also recorded the opera for Harmonia Mundi (HMU90 7146.78, highlights on HMU90 7277), Christopher Moulds presided over a well-considered performance, with Alice Coote in the title role and Rebecca Evans as Ginevra. One notices from the outset the slightly faster tempo of Ivor Bolton’s version of the Overture, which nevertheless does not oust Moulds’ account from my affections. Brian Wilson

This is an excellent EU released 3cd set of George Baker Selection. Many of you are familiar with their biggest hit, "Little Green Bag".

George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from Zaanstad, the Netherlands. In 1968, Hans Bouwens from Wormerveer joined the band Soul Invention, a soul band that had been founded the previous year by Henk Kramer in Assendelft and played covers of songs by Otis Redding and Sam and Dave…

George Baker Selection was a pop-rock band from Zaanstad, the Netherlands. In 1968, Hans Bouwens from Wormerveer joined the band Soul Invention, a soul band that had been founded the previous year by Henk Kramer in Assendelft and played covers of songs by Otis Redding and Sam and Dave…