Chet Baker - Comin' On

 

Baker’s period in Europe should probably be forgotten by everyone. The lurid stories of his addiction problems and incarcerations were splashed through the second rate girlie magazines with great frequency. The endless recitation of ugly stories was not heartening to the jazz fan.

His return to New York has been well chronicled by Ira Gitler (...) Suffice to say, that Baker’s playing retained the extraordinary lyricism he has always possessed but, by this time, there was more assurance, more guts in his playing. For me, he sounds more like Fats Navarro at this time. 

This is third in the series of five albums which Baker recorded under the auspices of Richard Carpenter who has served as Baker’s manager and has worked in a similar capacity for Gene Ammons. Carpenter has supplied most of the originals in the series and is represented here by the title track, "Comin’ On" and a vintage tune from the 1950's, "Chabootie", recorded many years ago by Ammons. Jimmy Mundy wrote No Fair Lady but perhaps the outstanding composition here is Tadd Dameron’s seldom heard "Choose Now". 

If one is surprised that Baker would tackle a vehicle of Gene Ammons, it should be no shock that he also could get into Tadd. Baker has expressed a great deal of admiration for Dameron both as a composer and pianist. Dameron is the premier composer of modern jazz and the graceful, swinging lines have, in Baker, one of the most sensitive jazz interpreters. 

Individually, the sidemen on this date are outstanding jazzmen. Collectively they give Baker the support and inspiration which may have been lacking in earlier efforts. Chet Baker is an unusual musician in that his early work was conservative compared to his more adventuresome playing here. Normally, a musician will have more fire and daring when he is young before settling into a comfortable bag as he grows older. Chet Baker has proved in these recordings that he has the fire. Let us hope that there will be more fire in the future. It would be a heavy blow to jazz should he be removed from the scene. *Bob Porter (Liner notes)* 

Side 1

01 - Comin' On

(Carpenter, Bruce)

02 - Stairway To The Stars

(Malneck, Parrish, Signorelli)

03 - No Fair Lady

(Mundy)

04 - When You're Gone

(Bruce, Johnson)

Side 2

05 - Choose Now

(Dameron)

06 - Chabootie

(Carpenter)

07 - Carpsie's Groove

(Carpenter, Stitt)

Chet Baker (flugelhorn), George Coleman (tenor sax), Kirk Lightsey (piano), Herman Wright (bass), Roy Brooks (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, August 23, 25 and 29, 1965.