Chet Baker Quartet - Chet Baker in Paris Vol. 3 (1955-56) [2024 SACD]

Original LP Liner Notes (Barclay 84.042)

Attentive listeners and specialists familiar with Chet Baker's entire discography — today the records under his own name include six 12" records, four 10" records and one 45rpm disc, plus many sides he recorded with Gerry Mulligan — will have no trouble conceding that the record in your hands is the richest, the most varied and most seductive of all his recorded works.
This particular record is composed of titles from several sessions with various other musicians in the course of Chet Baker's long stay in Europe in the years 1955 et 1956, and it reflects every aspect of his music in maturity. The beautifully elegant soloist heard on his records with Mulligan has now enhanced his playing, incorporating the finest qualities of Miles Davis, to whom he continuously listened in order to recreate his music according to his own temperament.
Losing none of his sensibilities, Chet grew in strength and precision. His playing is now precisely drawn, his phrases very attentively constructed, and successfully structured over the foundations of rhythmical links bereft of monotony.
When compared with so many other soloists who shamelessly indulge in displays of spectacular effects (good taste is not their principal quality), there is always pleasure in enjoying the restraint and discretion to be found in Chet Baker, an inspired soloist who seems always to be playing well within his resources. As a motor mechanic might say, Chet "never comes close to running on empty." It shows he is an excellent disciple of "the cool school."
Born on 20 December 1929 in Yale, Oklahoma, Chet Baker received an uneventful education before he began to show interest in music when he was around thirteen. It was then that his father made him a present of a trombone... which Chet exchanged for a trumpet a week later.
Early on he felt the influence of the spectacular Harry James, and then he developed a passion for modern jazz while in the military, when he found himself in Berlin with bass-player Don Bagley. Shortly after his release from the Army, Chet was to meet the baritone saxophonist and composer Gerry Mulligan, with whom he made a whole series of recordings that were to attract attention from those who loved his music. In no time at all, by 1954 he had been voted the top trumpet in the Readers Polls organized by the American magazines Down Beat and Metronome.
The following year he visited the Old Continent and gave triumphal concerts in which he presented a quartet; several priceless performances were brought together on our Barclay records 84.009 and 84.017. While these only feature him fronting a quartet, the present recording allows us to hear him accompanied by larger groups, and they're the equal of his most famous American recordings in every respect.
Ten original arrangements, five of which are new compositions, can be heard here.
The record opens with the old Bob Lane hit "HOW ABOUT YOU". Taken at a brisk tempo, sharp and alert, this piece lets us hear a highly inspired solo by Bobby Jaspar and a totally shimmering improvisation on the piano. "ONCE IN A WHILE," a quartet recording taken at mid-tempo, is played lightly; it unfolds with soft sadness in a very emotional atmosphere.
The next tune "CHEKEETAH" is a composition written by the saxophonist Phil Urso, a friend of Chet. Played at a lively medium tempo it resembles a little picture in sound, richly painted in beautiful colours. Then comes a version of "ALONE TOGETHER." This is a performance that really shows Chet Baker's sensitive nature. The music, without failing to lose its swing- an exploit for a slower tempo piece is very soft and displays tender feelings without a hint of sentimentality. And the first side closes with a cheerful composition by Pierre Michelot, "CHET," with an arrangement for eight instruments played over a quick tempo with a joyful lightness.
The same group opens the second side: Chet Baker, plus Benny Vasseur (trombone), Jean Aldegon (alto saxophone), Armand Migiani (tenor saxophone), William Boucaya (baritone saxophone), René Urtreger (piano), Jimmy Bond (double bass) and Bert Dahlander (drums). They play a very pleasant version of the classic tune "DINAH." The excellent Al Cohn composition "TASTY PUDDING" comes next, and it's perhaps the most successful performance of the collection. Recorded without drums but splendidly conducted by the rhythms of the bass, this tune is one of the best French-produced recordings of recent years. In its genre, the "mysterious" introduction is a masterpiece of musicality and discretion.
"ANTICIPATED BLUES" is the piece that allows Chet Baker's jazzmen to pay tribute to a theme par excellence in jazz music: the blues.
"VLINE" composed by Christian Chevalier is an orchestral piece whose performance here shows a marked difference regarding the improvised solo, to the previously issued version on a 45rpm EP (Barclay 74.020). It sounds like the most beautiful arrangements of Bill Holman and Bob Cooper.
Another blues, slow and heavy, brings this record to a conclusion. "EXITUS" features the best musicians of the Franco-Belgian modern school, who provide the poetic Chet Baker with a setting worthy of his universal value.

Tracks:

01. How About You? (4:30)
02. Once In A While (5:36)
03. Chik-Eta (6:03)
04. Alone Together (3:52)
05. Chet (3:09)
06. Dinah (3:02)
07. Tasty Pudding (4:46)
08. Anticipated Blues (2:31)
09. Vline (3:04)
10. Exitus (8:32)

Personnel:

Chet Baker, trumpet
Bobby Jaspar, tenor saxophone (1), (3)
Benoit Quersin, bass (1)-(6), (9)-(10)
Jean-Louis Viale, drums (1)-(4), (10)
René Urtreger, piano (1), (3), (5)-(6), (9)
Raymond Fol, piano (2), (4), (10)
Teddy Hameline, alto saxophone (5)-(6), (9)
William Boucaya, baritone saxophone (5)-(6), (9)
Pierre Lemarchand, drums (5)-(6), (9)
Francy Bolland, piano (5)-(9)
Armand Migiani, tenor saxophone (5)-(6), (9)
Benny Vasseur, trombone (5)-(6), (9)
Jean Aldegon, alto saxophone (6)
Eddie De Haas, bass (7)-(8)
Jean-Louis Chautemps, tenor saxophone (7)-(8)
Charles Saudrais, drums (8)-(7)