Chet Baker Quartet: In Paris Vol.2 LP

In October 1955, Chet Baker and his Quartet gave a series of concerts, notably in France. Many French people expected a playboy and dilettante trumpeter to get off the plane; the man who arrived was someone who lived only for, and by, his art. A first album recorded in Paris placed him in the jazz avant-garde; the series of recordings that followed formed the private journal of someone so incapable of hiding his emotions that he sublimated them in the only way he knew: in music.

Recorded for the Barclay label between Autumn 1955 and Spring 1956 at Studio Pathé-Magellan in Paris, these sessions, vol.1, 2 (quartet) & 3 (quintet, featuring Bobby Jaspar) are repressed for the first time on limited edition 1LP 180gm. Remastered from the original master tapes and presented in single sleeves with original jackets and liner notes.

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On Volume Two, recorded October 24, just three days after Twardzik's passing (due to an overdose), Chet leads his quartet with only Jimmy Bond left from his original accompanying trio, young French pianist Gérard Gustin and Swedish drummer Nils-Bertil Dahlander (filling in Peter Littman who returned to America). Given the context, they fall back on standards, Chet chosing eight: ‘These Foolish Things’, ‘There's a Small Hotel’, ‘Autumn In New York’, ‘Summertime’, ‘You Go To My Head’, ‘Tenderly’, ‘I'll Remember April’ and ‘Lover Man’.  The whole session exudes a kind of sadness that's impossible to put down, whatever the choice of tune or tempo.