Chet Baker Quartet - Chet Baker in Paris Vol. 1 (1955) [2024 SACD]

Original LP Liner Notes (Barclay 84009)

Chet Baker is one of the most surprising names in modern jazz. The mere mention of Chet is enough to make his peers either swoon or roar with rage. And even the most virulent of those against him experience a kind of discomfort: all of them wonder if they weren't in the presence of an artist about whom people would say in a couple of decades, "He was the unknown genius!" Bix Beiderbecke's adventurous story is still in the minds of critics giving opinions on the qualities of soloists!
It's true that Chet Baker is not an unknown: in the United States, the magazines "Down Beat" and "Metronome" flatter his reputation. But it is just astonishing to meet that young man, almost a kid, who seems so shy when he asks if he might play, and who, when he picks up his horn, only has thoughts of creating something for himself, of making good music without any concession to "commercialism."
With Chet, we are far from the flashy look of a Harry James, or the vigorous, truculent stature of an Armstrong or Roy Eldridge...
When Chet Baker is playing, he seems deep inside some passionate inner dream; his warm, refined tone enhances delicate phrases, even if they are sometimes stated with a kind of timid violence.
Chet Baker was born in Yale, Oklahoma on December 23rd 1929, and he was around fourteen when he began to learn music. It was while playing in a U.S. Army band in Germany that he became a modern jazz enthusiast, and he went on to play with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan.
The records he made with the latter made him famous in Europe, where there was unanimous praise for his work alongside the famous baritone. And then he set up his own group.
Chet took his quartet over to the Old Continent in 1955, and despite the thankless format of that band (trumpet, piano, bass and drums) Chet succeeded in enthralling audiences with lengthy improvisations that he executed with great care and a rare sense of balance. What stupefied his audience, however, was his sincerity: he was an artist who lived for his art alone, and it was through his music that he imparted that impassioned love.
It is that quartet which you can listen to here, and this is a fine recording of a well-recorded small group at the zenith of its capabilities. The group is made up of Chet Baker on trumpet, pianist Dick Twardzik (this is the last recording he made before his death), the bassist Jimmy Bond, and drummer Peter Littman, an accompanist who is sure to be on everyone's lips in the future due to the fact that here he is more than excellent.
First-rate modern jazz!


Tracks:

01. Rondette (2:12)
02. Piece Caprice (5:11)
03. Mid-Forte (3:09)
04. Re-Search (5:02)
05. Pomp (4:43)
06. Sad Walk (4:16)
07. Just Duo (4:14)
08. The Girl From Greenland (5:15)
09. Brash (5:56)

Personnel:

Chet Baker, trumpet
Dick Twardzick, piano
Jimmy Bond, bass
Peter Littmann, drums