Five-Star Collection... Chet Baker

Chet Baker

Chet Baker Quartet

This LP presents Chet Baker in a quartet format with the remarkable Russ Freeman on piano. This was the first group Chet fronted as a leader after Gerry Mulligan's imprisonment broke up the celebrated piano-less quartet, which had launched the trumpeter to fame. One of the greatest trumpeters and most popular cult-figures in jazz history, Baker was as famous for his rugged good looks and stormy personal life as he was for his gentle vocals and lyrical introspective trumpet playing. Gaining fame as a member of Gerry Mulligan's heralded piano-less quartet, Baker quickly became the undisputed trumpet king of the 1950s West Coast cool jazz sound. His beautiful tone, delicate and haunting melodic lines and masterful sense of space imbued his music with a warm, nostalgic quality, and earned him a fan base that extended well beyond the boundaries of the traditional jazz enthusiast. He once stated: "As I rely 100% on the ear, I react strongly to everything that goes on around me. The conditions that I've had while learning to play do not exist anymore. I feel like I belong to a species, threatened by destruction. Sad, in a way, but that's what they call progress, isn't it?" A brilliant improviser, Baker's silky lines seemed to glide through the air with effortless grace, spinning webs of dreamy sentimental moods and textures.

Chet Baker made his record debut in September of 1952 with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet for Pacific Jazz. His playing immediately received the critic's praise; cries of "another Bix", another "Bunny" were sounded. His recording of "My Funny Valentine" with the Mulligan Quartet is well on the way toward becoming a jazz classic.

Chet was born in Yale, Oklahoma, 23 years ago. His family moved to California when he was ten years old. At Glendale Junior High School he began his musical training. In school he played trumpet in the marching band and the dance orchestra. Drafted in 1946, he was shipped to Berlin, Germany, with the 298th Army Band. Discharged two years later, he began to study music theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. A chance to join the Presidio Army Band in San Francisco caused Chet to re-enlist in 1950. Ten months in San Francisco gave Chet the opportunity of playing in various sessions which started him in jazz music. From his past concert band experience he brought a legitimate tone and conception, uninfluenced by the jazz stylists of the past.

When Charlie Parker was on the West Coast during the summer of 1952, he heard Chet and hired him for his dates on the Coast. Shortly afterwards he joined Gerry Mulligan at the Haig Club.

Pianist Russ Freeman's collaboration with Chet on this date has brought about a more aggressive, less subdued side of his playing style. Russ, 26 year old product of the West Coast, shows a strong original approach to jazz in his inventive compositions and precise, swinging piano solos. He has been heard with Art Pepper's group on records, and has played with Wardell Gray, and many West Coast jazz groups. He is currently with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars.

*Richard Bock (from the liner notes)*

Now it's for sure. Our suspicions that the 23-year-old trumpet man from Yale, Okla., was a major new star are confirmed by this LP, which is a gasser from start to finish. The lad has the style, the sound, the command of the horn; almost as important, he has the perfect setting. Russ piano, fleet and modern in both accompanying and solo roles throughout, is of immeasurable value to the overall results. Larry Bunker and Bobby White split the drum chores, Carson Smith and Bob Whitlock the bass job.

Three of the tunes are Freeman originals. One of them, Maid in Mexico, was five-starred here as a single 78 disc; another, Batter Up, provides some delightful voiced and unison two-part moments for trumpet and piano.

Outstanding performance of the set, though, is Imagination, played very close to the melody, but, amazingly, all around and below middle C. Beautifully simple and simply beautiful.

Until now the great modern horn stars could be counted on the digits of one hand. To the names of Dizzy, Miles, Joe Newman, Shorty Rogers, and Clark Terry must now be added an extra finger on the hand: Chet Baker has arrived. *Down Beat, Chicago, July 29, 1953 (5 stars)*

Side 1

1 - Isn't It Romantic

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

2 - Maid In Mexico

(Russ Freeman)

3 - Imagination

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

4 - This Time The Dream's On Me

(Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen)

Side 2

5 - The Lamp Is Low

(Maurice Ravel, Bert Shefter, Peter de Rose, Mitchell Parish)

6 - Russ Job

(Russ Freeman)

7 - Easy To Love

(Cole Porter)

8 - Batter Up

(Russ Freeman)

✳ Personnel and recording dates: theories and controversies ✳

To this day, the sources upon which even the most rigorous discographies have relied to establish with certainty the recording dates of these earliest Chet Baker sessions for Pacific Jazz remain unknown.

According to Jørgen Grunnet Jepsen, in his reference work Jazz Records 1942–1965, and the publication CHET – The Discography of Chesney Henry Baker by Hans Henrik Lerfeldt and Thorbjørn Sjögren, the following information is given:

#1

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Red Mitchell (bass), Bobby White (drums)

Recorded at Gold Star Studios, July 24, 1953

#2, #4, #5

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Bob Whitlock (bass), Bobby White (drums)

Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, July 27, 1953

#3, #6, #7, #8

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Carson Smith (bass), Larry Bunker (drums)

Recorded at Radio Recorders, July 30, 1953

Even so, the original liner notes clearly identify Bob Whitlock as the bassist on tracks #1, #2, #4, and #5.

Further research carried out in Europe for releases on the Disques Vogue, Swing, and Karusell labels appears to have confirmed that Bob Whitlock was present at the first recording session of the Chet Baker Quartet at Gold Star Studios on December 15, 1952, leading to the logical conclusion that Red Mitchell did not participate in that session.

Moreover, reviews published in Down Beat — both those referring to the 78 rpm releases (May 6, 1953) and to the 10-inch LP (July 29, 1953) — would seem to demonstrate that the recording dates given by Jepsen are impossible, even though they continued to be accepted within the jazz community.

In 2000, producer Michael Cuscuna reported that a contact with access to the archives of American Federation of Musicians Local 47 had confirmed that there were no records of Chet Baker recording sessions on July 24 and 27, 1953. The same source established that the first session took place on December 15, 1952, at Gold Star Studios, and that additional sessions were documented on April 17, 1953, and July 30, 1953. Accordingly, the dates should be revised as follows:

#1

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Bob Whitlock (bass), Bobby White (drums)

Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, California, December 15, 1952

#2, #4, #5

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Bob Whitlock (bass), Bobby White (drums)

Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, California, April 17, 1953

#3, #6, #7, #8

Chet Baker (trumpet), Russ Freeman (piano),

Carson Smith (bass), Larry Bunker (drums)

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California, July 30, 1953

To complete the controversy, Dick Bock — the album's producer — never acknowledged the December 15, 1952 recording session at Gold Star Studios. The closest he came to admitting that he had recorded Chet Baker as a leader while the trumpeter was still a member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet was in a letter published in the May 1953 issue of Metronome.

Beyond the — often debatable — precision of recording dates, what ultimately matters is the remarkable artistry of these earliest Chet Baker sessions, whose lyricism, clarity, and sense of space would already define one of the most distinctive voices in modern jazz.

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