Your Favorite Chet Baker Recording

Chet in Tokyo Live

Thanks everyone for all the input. It gives me something to start with. This site is great for that sort of thing. I will let you know what I find

Gary

Almost without exception, young jazz lions play (and sing) better than when they become old jazz lions. Make friends with that. Yes, the Pacific Jazz recordings, both vocal and instrumental, are the freshest. Get them. But truth to tell, Chet always had a way with a phrase, never mind the diminished chops. Good listening to you.

Far and away his single best is "Chet Baker & Crew", one of the Pacific Jazz releases (1956 or thereabouts?). It's got Phil Urso, tenor, Bobby Timmons, piano, Jimmy Bond, bass, and I can't remember the drummer. Baker and this group play with a lot more fire than was often the case on many of his recordings. I have an original mono LP that is quite well recorded as well as a routine CD reissue, but I note that there apparently are a couple of remastered CDs that add additional tracks. These might be worth checking out, since the price is only $12 on cdnow.