CHET BAKER
Chet (Riverside)
Reviewed by Ron Saranich

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Originally recorded in December of 1958 and January of 1959 as The Lyrical Trumpet Of Chet Baker, Chet has been remastered this year in 20-bit sound. For this recording, Chet Baker was joined by Pepper Adams on baritone saxophone, Herbie Mann on flute, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and either Connie Kay or Philly Joe Jones on drums.

This all-star lineup featured players considered among the very best at their chosen instruments. The listener should thus anticipate a great jazz recording. Therein lies the problem with Chet. It never quite lives up to expectations. Though the session featured some of my favorite standards and ballads, none of the tunes linger in my mind after the disc is over. The arrangements are fairly straightforward and by the book and Baker's trumpet playing sounds flat and perfunctory. He never seems to catch fire and play a passionate solo. Instead, Adams, Burrell, and Evans have to carry the songs.

Perhaps the problem lies in the song selection, since most of the tunes are of the same tempo. However, to my ears, Baker appears uninspired. To test this theory, I played excerpts from Chet Baker In New York and Somewhere Over The Rainbow for a friend. They agreed with me. Diehard Baker fans will surely disagree since Chet is one of Baker's best selling recordings. What do you think?

© 2001 - Ron Saranich