Chet Baker Plays Standards

This album is somewhat unique in that it was recorded just a few days after his pianist Dick Twardzik died of a heroin overdose while in Paris. According to Chet, this event lead to him "seeing what heroin was all about" and it became an instant and lifelong companion for him. Because Twardzik was not able to play, they had to come up with some basic "standards" that Chet normally didn't play that often, so that there new sit-in pianist could keep up. In this case, you here some really wonderful versions of songs that Chet rarely ever played, like Summertime, Tenderly, Autumn in New York, etc, which are all marvelous.

Chet Baker - Plays The Best Of Lerner & Loewe (1959) {OJC Remasters Complete Series rel 2013, item 27of33}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 277 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 145 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1959, 2013 Riverside / Concord | 60th Anniversary of Riverside Records | 0888072345997
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

Concord Music Group will release five new titles in its Original Jazz Classics Remasters series. Enhanced by 24-bit remastering by Joe Tarantino, several bonus tracks on nearly each disc (some previously unreleased) and new liner notes providing historical context to the original material, the series celebrates the 60th anniversary of Riverside Records, the prolific New York-based label that showcased some of the most influential jazz artists and recordings of the 1950s and '60s.

Craft Recordings is pleased to announce the release of Chet Baker’s The Legendary Riverside Albums. The deluxe album set presents the artist’s output as a leader for the renowned jazz label, recorded and released between 1958 and 1959: (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen To You, Chet Baker In New York, Chet and Chet Baker Plays The Best Of Lerner And Loewe. The recordings, which feature such icons as Bill Evans, Johnny Griffin and Kenny Burrell, have been cut from their original analog master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.

Chet Baker - Lonely Star: The Prestige Sessions (1965) {Prestige PRCD-24172-2 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 391 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 155 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1965, 1996 Prestige / Fantasy | PRCD-24172-2
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Flugelhorn

In 1964, trumpeter Chet Baker returned to the United States after five sometimes-traumatic years spent overseas (which included a long stay in an Italian jail for drug abuse). Baker recorded prolifically during his first 14 months back in the States, including a set for Colpix, two records for Limelight, and, in a busy three-day period, five albums for Prestige titled Groovin', Comin' On, Cool Burnin', Smokin', and Boppin' With the Chet Baker Quintet. The Prestige sets have been long overlooked and only partially reissued in the past, but in 1997 they reappeared as three CDs.

Those who think of singer/saxman Curtis Stigers as a pop/rock artist and associate him with "I Wonder Why" and "Peace, Love and Understanding" will be surprised to learn that Baby Plays Around is very much a jazz album – not jazzy pop, but straight-ahead acoustic jazz. Not that there is any reason why someone with pop/rock credentials can't embrace jazz if his heart is really in it; after all, jazz and rock are both part of the blues family. And even though some pretentious individuals in the jazz world love to state that jazz is "America's classical music," the fact is that jazz has more in common with rock and R&B than with Beethoven or Mozart. Stigers thrived on that blues feeling as a pop/rock singer in the early '90s, and he thrives on it as a jazz singer.