Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Chet Baker - In Tokyo [1987] (2 x CD's)




CHET BAKER

Chet Baker - In Tokyo [1987] (2 x CD's)


Chet Baker in Tokyo is a live album by jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, recorded at Showa Women's University's Hitomi Kinen Kodo. Released only eleven months before his death, it has been hailed as, "A glorious moment in Chet Baker's twilight." (Wikipedia)


Like a number of live Chet Baker albums released over the last ten years, this one documents a concert that took place shortly before his tragic death (having recently resumed his drug habit, he fell from a hotel room window in 1988). Unlike most of them, though, this one shows him to have still been in complete control of his musical faculties, playing not just beautifully and well, but with energy and even speed despite his deteriorating health. His singing, too, sounds uncannily like that of the quiet young sex symbol he'd been in the 1950s, before age and heroin ravaged his face and emptied his eyes. Accompanied beautifully by pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein Van Der Geyn and drummer John Engels, Baker plays a surprisingly varied set, from Jimmy Heath's hard bop standard "For Minors Only" to "Four" by Miles Davis and the delicately anguished "Almost Blue," written for him by Elvis Costello. Here he still plays with the sweet, dry tone that made him famous and helped to define an entire school of West Coast jazz, and sings in a voice remarkably similar to that of his trumpet. Given its context, you can't miss the poignancy of this recording; but the playing is so sweet and happy that it's also impossible to resist the spirit in which these performances were offered -- a spirit which was anything but sad. (AllMusic Review by Rick Anderson)

Although Miles Davis' masterpiece, "Kind of Blue," might be the most listened to jazz album of all time, and it deserves to be, jazz fans should take note that "Chet Baker in Tokyo" more than holds its own as far as musical quality and inventiveness are concerned.

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Track list

CD1

  01. Stella by Starlight
  02. For Minors Only
  03. Almost Blue
  04. Portrait in Black and White
  05. My Funny Valentine

CD2

  01. Four
  02. Arborway
  03. I'm a Fool to Want You
  04. Seven Steps to Heaven
  05. For All We Know
  06. Broken Wing

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7 comments:

  1. thank you, i'll listen in the New Year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi BarrieB
    I know you will enjoy this

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is well worth the download. Thanks. Have a nice night. jimg.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi jim,
      This is a wonderful album, hope you enjoy it.

      Cheers

      Delete
  4. Hi Butterboy,
    Love your blog! My nephew mentioned this Chet Baker album as a favorite of his--would it be possible for a reup? Thank you for your consideration and Happy Holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi kioku,
      Thank you for your kind words.

      New link established, tested and working.

      Happy Holidays to you too.

      Cheers.

      Delete