Needle Time

  Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings [PJ-1222 USA 2023 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Pacific Jazz Records in 1956. When Chet Baker Sings was released in 2020 as part of the Blue Note Tone Poet reissue series, a world of jazz-lovers in lockdown snapped up copies so quickly the initial pressing run was done & dusted in days. This version became one of the most desirable Tone Poet releases and consequently copies were changing hands for over $200 on reseller markets. It took three years for Blue Note to find space in the RTI production schedule to get more pressed up and these seem to be disappearing just as quickly as the first pressing. Dodgy European reissue labels were jumping on the Chet bandwagon by pressing up their own cheap vaguely sourced, unofficial versions between 2020 & 2023. Give those a wide berth, this is the version you need of one of the most popular albums by the trumpet-player, although I wouldn't necessarily say that is the best sounding Tome ...

  Chet Baker - Chet Baker And His Quintet With Bobby Jaspar [SR06/1 FRA 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Fred Thomas's quality Parisian boutique label, Sams Records have been carving themselves quite a niche in the jazz reissue market. Chet Baker was among a number of American musicians who temporarily relocated to Paris in the mid-fifties to perform, and ultimately record for Eddie Barclay's Barclay Records. Sams Records have successfully dug deep into the archives of French jazz recordings to secure (& bake) the original master tapes for their all-analogue 180gm vinyl releases wrapped in glossy & thick reproduction tip-on sleeves.  This particular album was recorded over sessions between October 1955 and February 1956 at the Studio Pathé-Magellan in Paris with a mixture of French & Belgian musicians including the great Belgian saxophonist Bobby Jasper. The original version of this album was released in France in 1956 and renamed  I Get Chet for its 1957...

  Baker-Pepper Sextet - Picture Of Heath [PJ-18 USA 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released in 1958 on World Pacific Records as Chet Baker & Art Pepper's Playboys long player with a sleeve mimicking a certain magazine cover. Hugh Heffner objected to this and the album was re-released as Picture Of Heath in 1961 - five of the seven tracks were written by big band leader Jimmy Heath. This Blue Note Tone Poet reissue was cut from the original session tape by Kevin Grey and pressed at RTI. I may have mentioned before about how old recordings were mastered considerately for vinyl in the day making allowances for the low specification turntable of the fifties and sixties.  The new mastering brings out the full range of frequencies without any reduction around the low end.  What you now hear is how the tape sounds today and it has been cut rather hot - although in mono, there is a remarkable depth to the music, the double bass hits the speakers firmly and the ...

  Chet Baker - Plays The Best Of Lerner & Loewe [CR00360 USA 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Riverside Records back in 1959. It is that time of the week to kick back, slip into something a little more comfortable, pour yourself a wee dram. It all starts again tomorrow, in the meantime here is some more Chet.  This was to be one of Baker's last albums recorded in the USA as he, along with many of his peers, was heading for Europe. On this album he plays the tunes of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe from the many musicals composed by the two. He is joined by Bill Evans on piano, Earl May on bass, Herbie Mann, Zoot Simms & Pepper Adams on sax, and Herbie Mann on flute.  Kevin Gray cut this release from the original master tapes for Craft Recordings a few years back, RTI took care of the pressing. A1 I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face A2 I Could Have Danced All Night A3 The Heather On The Hill A4 On The Street Where You Live B1 Almost Lik...

  Chet Baker - Chet [RLP 1135 USA 2020 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] This week's Sunday night jazz slot goes to another album from Chet Baker. Recorded at Hazard Reeves' studio in New York between December 1958 and January 1959, Chet was originally released on Riverside Records later in 1959, in a choice of mono or stereo pressings. Those original three track stereo masters were used for this all analogue pressing by Craft Recordings as part of the labels five album boxed set of Chet Baker recordings for Riverside, repressed as single albums in 2020. For me, along with Chet Baker In New York and Chet Sings (the world still awaits a Tone Poet repress), this album forms his three essential works, representing a fine introduction to the work of one of the coolest trumpets on earth. What is impressive that it is not just about the Baker horn, the line-up on this album represents some of the very best; Kenny Burrell on guitar, Bill Evans on piano, Pepper Adams on sax and Herbie Mann on f...

  Chet Baker - In New York [RLP 1119 USA 2020 24-Bit FLAC] Originally released in a choice of mono or stereo on Riverside Records in 1958, remastered from the analogue master tape by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, pressed onto lovely quiet black 180gm vinyl by Record Technology Incorporated. Ripped here in a choice of 88.2kHz or 176.4kHz. My local hi-fi dealer has recently moved into the world of vinyl sales (makes perfect sense to me) and began by buying up leftover stock from a dealer when went bust during the worst of the recent lockdowns. Most of this stock is MFSL, Craft, Analogue Productions, Blue Note/Tone Poet and Impex Records - all US imports from labels specialising in high quality represses on excellent quality vinyl from analogue sources. I am like a kid in a sweetshop in his store now, whilst saving up for a Project Tube Box DS2 to match my pimped up Project Classic turntable (any donations gratefully received), I foolishly diverted a chunk of my funds to a smal...