The Cool School

Chet Baker is one of jazz's great cult figures, a trumpeter and singer who had a long and prolific career despite having a rather chaotic life that included heroin addiction, jail sentences and deportations from a few European countries. Chet Baker & Crew is taken from his early prime and features Baker in top form.

Born in Oklahoma in late 1929, Baker grew up in the Los Angeles area. 1952 was his breakthrough year. He won an audition to play for a few weeks with a visiting Charlie Parker, and he met baritonist Gerry Mulligan, becoming part of Mulligan's famous pianoless quartet. Going out on his own in 1953, Baker was a leader of combos from then on. His movie star looks and vulnerable-sounding voice could have helped him land a career in films, but Baker's drug problems made that ultimately impossible. He was successful throughout the 1950s, was off the scene during much of the late 1960s, and made a major if unlikely comeback in the 1970s, spending most of his final decade in Europe before his passing in 1988.

Chet Baker & Crew features his regularly working group of 1956, a quintet also featuring tenor-saxophonist Phil Urso and pianist Bobby Timmons. The 14 selections, all but one of which are instrumentals, feature obscure but rewarding material that helped to define West Coast cool jazz. The blend between Baker and Urso, the concise and laidback solos, and the quiet cooking of the rhythm section make this an atmospheric and swinging affair.

—Scott Yanow