Art Baker

All but two of these 13 tracks date from the late 1950s (the other two were done in 1965), and while Baker's talents were undimmed at this point, this wasn't his best era recording-wise, in terms of either material or bands. For his best you should turn to the earlier Pacific Jazz discs, but this is still a good set of slow and sentimental Baker for those who have heard the peak stuff in this vein and want yet more. "Autumn in New York," recorded in Italy with a string orchestra, is one extreme of his sentimental predilections, yet there's also stuff in a far more straight-ahead vein with the likes of Bill Evans and Kenny Burrell among the backup musicians…

Picture of Heath (also known as Playboys was the best collaboration ever by two of the greatest jazz masters of all time: trumpeter Chet Baker and alto saxophonist Art Pepper. This set presents the complete album, along with, as a bonus, seven tracks from a previous session fronted by both stars.

Picture of Heath (also known as Playboys was the best collaboration ever by two of the greatest jazz masters of all time: trumpeter Chet Baker and alto saxophonist Art Pepper. This set presents the complete album, along with, as a bonus, seven tracks from a previous session fronted by both stars.

These 1956 Pacific Jazz sides appeared in 1961 under the title Playboys. Myth and rumor persist that, under legal advice from the publisher of a similarly named magazine, the collection would have to be retitled. It was renamed Picture of Heath, as more than half of the tracks are Jimmy Heath compositions. Regardless, the music is the absolute same. These are the third sessions to feature the dynamic duo of Art Pepper (alto sax) and Chet Baker (trumpet).

This music, originally issued in Italy as Chet Sextet & Quartet and in the USA as Chet Baker in Milan, was recorded by the great trumpeter/vocalist backed by a small group of Italian players in Milan, Italy, in 1959. A complete session - also recorded in Italy - presenting Baker mostly on vocals with an orchestra conducted by Ennio Morricone (celebrated for his soundtracks to the films of Sergio Leone), and two tracks recorded in Baden Baden, Germany, have been added as a bonus.

This music, originally issued in Italy as "Angel Eyes" and in the United States as "Chet Baker with Fifty Italian Strings", was recorded by the great Chet Baker in Milan, Italy, in 1959. It was his second European tour (the first one had taken place in 1955), and would lead to Baker’s imprisonment in Italy for drug charges. Baker is backed by a big band conducted by Len Mercer (the artistic name of the Milanese conductor Ezio Leoni) in a repertoire of well-known standards, among them a new reading of the classic “My Funny Valentine”. Tracks made by Chet in Italy during the same period for film soundtracks conducted by Piero Umiliani have been added as a bonus.

The show tune "My Funny Valentine" was composed by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for their 1937 musical Babes in Arms, where it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. It would become a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 1300 albums performed by over 600 artists. First recorded by Chet Baker in 1952, it soon became something like his theme song, omnipresent on his club and concert sets. This CD opens and closes with two of Chet’s numerous versions of the song, and also presents a selection of some of his best interpretations of well-known standards.