Chet Baker Sextet & Quartet Import LP (Blue Vinyl)

Chet Baker is one of the most important and essential characters of modern jazz and over the years he had not lost his strength and color, a fact that's clearly demonstrated by this release, indeed showing us a quite different Chet Baker. His style had become less slender, more excited, more precise, more violent, and several tracks on this record prove it.

The musicians accompanying Chet Baker here are the very best the Italian jazz scene of the time could offer: Glauco Masetti on alto sax, Gianni Basso on tenor sax, Renato Sellani on piano and Franco Cerri on double bass, together with the Italian-American Gene Victory on drums. As usual in such situations, arrangements were entrusted to Giulio Libano, who wisely provided the musicians with ample space for their solos. Chet Baker is undoubtedly the protagonist, but a lot of freedom of expression is granted to his fellow adventurers.