Chet Baker Silent Nights

Baritonist Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet of 1952-1953 with trumpeter Chet Baker was one of the most popular groups of the period and an influential force on West Coast Jazz. Mulligan's interplay with Baker looked back toward the collective improvisation of Dixieland but utilized up-to-date harmonies. This four-CD set overlaps with a previous (and now out-of-print) five-LP Mosaic box. In addition to all of the Pacific Jazz (as opposed to Fantasy and GNP/Crescendo) recordings of the Mulligan Quartet (including the hit version of "My Funny Valentine"), this box has a few slightly earlier titles that find Mulligan gradually forming the group (even utilizing pianist Jimmie Rowles on two songs), tunes from live sessions in which altoist Lee Konitz made the band a quintet, the 1957 Mulligan-Baker set called Reunion, and an Annie Ross date from the same period (leaving out the numbers that have Art Farmer in Baker's place)…

This release presents the complete master takes by Gerry Mulligan's original 1952-53 piano-less quartet with Chet Baker. These legendary recordings -producer Dick Bock originally started his label specifically to record the popular Gerry Mulligan Quartet- would prove enormously influential and set the groundwork for many other groups. However, Mulligan and Baker's paths would separate afterward and they would not record more than a couple of albums together. All of their recordings together from that period are on this 2-CD set.

Mulligan's pianoless quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the more important cool jazz groups.
After some very successful performances and recordings in 1952 both musicians became stars and were in great demand. In spite of the musical success of the quartet, the continuous arguments between Baker and Mulligan led to a break up in 1953.

Chet Baker - The Complete Pacific Jazz Live Recordings of The Chet Baker Quartet with Russ Freeman (1954) {3CD Mosaic MD3-113 rel 1986}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 745 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 413 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 25 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954, 1986 Pacific Jazz / Mosaic Records | MD3-113
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet / Piano

The independent jazz reissue label Mosaic Records garnered a rightful reputation as industry leaders and enthusiast favorites with deluxe and strictly limited-edition packages such as this one. The contents of this four-LP/three-CD collection are derived from two performances during the summer of 1954 and feature the Chet Baker Quartet: Baker (trumpet/"boom bam" percussion), Russ Freeman (piano), Carson Smith (bass), and Bob Neel (drums). The two performances – recorded July 21 at Santa Cruz's Civic Auditorium and August 10 at The Tiffany Club in Los Angeles, respectively – are presented chronologically.

Chet Baker - At Le Dreher (1980) {West Wind 2137 rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 349 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 184 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 44 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1980, 2002 West Wind | WW 2137
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Trumpet

Another set of vaguely dispiriting releases. Chet played at Le Dreher in Paris for fifteen nights; Dennis Luxion had left the band, and was effectively replaced by Karl Ratzer on guitar, whilst Al Levitt joined on drums. Two nights of music were recorded and eventually released on four LPs, the first of which was ‘Night Bird’. There are some fine moments; Chet’s solo on Russ Freeman’s ‘No Ties’ (Tune Up) is one of his longest on record, and never seems to run out of ideas, and ‘Leaving’ (also Tune Up’ is also worth hearing.

From the brooding opening title track to the closing Chet Baker homage, "I Fall in Love Too Easily," Dark Nights unapologetically embraces the heart of jazz. Every aspect of the album—from the cover photo, to Cohen's precise trumpet inflections, to the trio's dedication to immediacy and collective improvisation (and even the album's forays into electronic affects)—is saturated with the emblematic textures, rhythms, and imagery of jazz. This is achieved with professionalism, creativity, and skill, without a wit of irony or cliche, while avoiding both navel-gazing insularity and crowd-pleasing revivalism.

This five-LP box set, as its title states, contains all of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet's recordings for Pacific Jazz and Capitol, everything that that classic group ever recorded other than the material issued by Prestige and a half record recorded for GNP Crescendo. Unfortunately, this is a limited-edition set that is now out of print but it is well worth bidding on in auctions, for not only does it have all of the Mulligan Quartet's other recordings but also 15 previously unissued performances, all of the sides on which altoist Lee Konitz sat in with the quartet and the eight recordings by the 1953 Gerry Mulligan Tentette. These highly influential performances set the standard for West Coast jazz, made trumpeter Chet Baker a star, and remain some of the high points of Gerry Mulligan's very productive career.

AVID Jazz is proud to introduce an exciting new addition to our Four Classic Album series, Four Classic Jazz Instrumentalists. We continue with Four Classic Jazz Bassists, a re-mastered 2CD set complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details.