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Chet Baker on Prestige


TheMusicalMarine

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Works for me. I've never been taken by the whole Baker "mystique" thing, which is pretty much absent entirely from these sides. Just good Hard Bop, nothing you've not heard before from other sources, and nothing particularly "deep" or "personal", but the type of stuff that still sounds good anyway.

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I like the 1965 sessions (Groovin' etc) most. Absolutely avoid the european ZYX CDs of these titles (straight reissues of the 5 short albums), because the sound is awful. The US reissues (3 full CDs) are much better. Titles are:

- On A Misty Night

- Stairway To The Stars

- Lonely Star

http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/baker_c_cat2.html

Edited by Claude
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Absolutely avoid the european ZYX reissues of these titles (straight releases of these 5 short discs), because the sound is awful. The US reissues (3 full CDs) are much better. 

i totally agree with claude. get the domestic reissues.

Edited by jazzshrink
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I like the 1965 sessions (Groovin' etc) most. Absolutely avoid the european ZYX CDs of these titles (straight reissues of the 5 short albums), because the sound is awful. The US reissues (3 full CDs) are much better. Titles are:

- On A Misty Night

- Stairway To The Stars

- Lonely Star

http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/baker_c_cat2.html

Wonderful suggestion. I have all three and when I play Chet, these are the ones I go to. Excellent recordings that showcase him within a wonderful hard bop group that features some superb George Coleman. :tup

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There must be some problem with some of the master tapes from the Prestige sessions. Nine of the tracks are issued in mono while the rest of the thirty two tracks are in stereo on the US issues. I wonder if those stereo tapes are damaged or just misplaced.

I picked up the three CD's when they came out, and was equally disappointed to find that some of the tracks were mono. I have all the albums on vinyl, and they are all stereo. Fantasy has been known to screw things up stereo-wise in the past, for whatever reason.

I love these sessions. I guess because the records were produced by Richard Carpenter, he had them record a number of Tadd Dameron tunes. Maybe Carpenter owned a piece of the publishing? Although Carpenter's motives may have been monetary, the music is wonderful.

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I bought all the Prestige LPs when they were first issued. So very different than the Chet Baker groups on Pacific Jazz.

What a marvelous quintet. The highly underrated Roy Brooks on drums, The rock solid Herman Wright on bass, George Coleman's full throated swinging tenor sax the very personal creative playing of Kirk Lightsey on piano, and the looser, harder swinging playing of Chet Baker.

These sessions especially focused my attention on the playing of Kirk Lightsey. What a fine player he is!!

Peter F

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