Chet Baker & Bill Evans

about

Never have two musicians seemed so alike in temperament yet differed so much in their approach to making music as Chet Baker and Bill Evans. While both were peerless masters of their instruments and shared a rich, evocatively lyrical playing style that bordered beguilingly on the introspective, Baker and Evans were polar opposites when it came to the discipline of performance. Though both were heroin addicts, the musically-trained Evans never let it interfere with his meticulously precise flights of invention while the self-taught Baker became increasingly erratic and inconsistent. They ventured into a recording studio together on just three occasions, with largely disappointing results, their potentially combustible collaboration failing to ignite and all too frequently sounding workmanlike and uninspiring. The Complete Legendary Sessions corrals the 15 tracks that resulted from those sessions – previously issued on two 1959 albums: Chet, and Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Loewe – together for the first time, with a vocals-free Baker concentrating on his horn playing. Occupying the first 10 tracks (absent from the LP release, Early Morning Mood appears here as a welcome bookend) Chet turns in satisfyingly laidback but unexciting performances. Sparks of energy are provided by Herbie Mann’s flute, the baritone sax of Pepper Adams, Connie Kay and Philly Joe Jones on percussion, guitarist Kenny Burrell and bass man Paul Chambers, who all go about their business with

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albums

The Complete Legendary Sessions

The Complete Legendary Session

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Legendary Sessions

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Alone Together (The Legendary Sessions)

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Chet Baker from A to Z, Vol. 10

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The Very Best of

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The Best 100 Jazz [Disc 1]

Alone Together

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Jazz 'Round Midnight (Remastered)

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The Complete Legendary Sessions 1959

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1959 - The Complete Legendary Session with Chet Baker

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Chet: The Lyrical Trumpet of Chet Baker (feat. Bill Evans) [Bonus Track Version]

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