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Chet Baker Quartet Live My Old Flame V3 Jazzmp3 320h33tschon55

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Chet Baker - Quartet Live - My Old Flame V3
Year: 1954
Release: 2001
Label: Capitol Records
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Live recording made on the second day of 43-day Chet Baker Quartet's performance in the Tiffany Club - the most famous night club in Los Angeles of that era, which had presented during those years the top of jazz musicians: Dave Brubeck, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Nat "King" Cole, Serge Chaloff, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, and Art Pepper among others. On this recording Chet is almost in the beginning of his career and is still full of strength and assurance, blowing them through his trumpet, accompanied by turbocharged pianist Russ Freeman, bassist Carson Smith and drummer Bob Neel.

This third and final Pacific Jazz volume of the Chet Baker Quartet in concert continues with more music from the August 1954 date at the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles ( some of which was heard on Vol. 2 in this CD series ). Baker is in great form on trumpet throughout this performance, accompanied by pianist Russ Freeman, bassist Carson Smith, and drummer Bob Neel. The group is well-rehearsed and in top form, beginning with a turbocharged run through Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes." There are some songs previously covered in different versions on the earlier volumes ( "Line for Lyons," "My Old Flame," "Carson City Stage," as well as Freeman's "The Wind" and "Russ Job" ), but these versions not only measure up to the earlier ones but in several cases improve upon them. Freeman's inventive bop solos are another highlight of this release, especially in up-tempo tracks such as "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart." For novelty, Baker also plays boo-bam ( a series of small drums made of timber bamboo ) between his trumpet solos on four tracks, though he generally remains in the background on the instrument. For a nightclub recording of this era, the audience is surprisingly quiet and one isn't distracted by clinking glasses, ringing cash registers, and the occasional drunk talking at the top of his lungs. Although all of the selections previously appeared on a Mosaic box set, that long out of print collector's item would command a hefty price tag, so this individual CD, along with the Pacific Jazz CDs which preceded it, is a highly recommended and much more affordable alternative. ~ Ken Dryden, AMG

The Tiffany Club at 3260 West 8th Street reigned as one of LA's top jazz venues during the early years of the 1950s. The Tiffany's owner, Jack Tucker, would frequently rent klieg lights which would be positioned on the street in front of the club where their piercing columns of light would crisscross the Hollywood sky to guide jazz fans to the club. It was not unusual to have fans lined up across the front of the Tiffany and around the corner waiting to gain entrance to the club which could seat several hundred patrons. During these years, the Tiffany Club presented a roster of top jazz artists including Dave Brubeck, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Nat "King" Cole, Serge Chaloff, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, and Art Pepper among others. Chet Baker had appeared at the Tiffany Club in May and June of 1952 as part of Charlie Parker's quintet. Chet's appearance with Bird provided the first validation of his credentials as an emerging jazz artist. At the same time, Gerry Mulligan was beginning to experiment with a variety of instrumental combinations at The Haig, which was four blocks east of the Tiffany Club off Wilshire Boulevard. It is possible that Gerry dropped by the Tiffany Club to hear Bird, or that Chet dropped by The Haig to hear Gerry. Regardless of how it happened, the reality is that Gerry and Chet got together during the summer of 1952 and created one of the most heralded jazz combos of the decade.

Their collaboration would begin to disintegrate almost immediately. Despite their musical empathy and chemistry, their disparate personalities signaled a cou-pling that was to be short-lived. Gerry had worked behind other leaders while on the East Coast and was ready to establish himself as leader of his own group. Chet had also paid his dues locally and had led sessions at a number of well known Los Angeles venues where jam sessions provided the cutting ground for emerging tal¬ent. He was also eager to lead his own group. It comes as no surprise that Chet formed his quartet a few months after working with Gerry Mulligan and began to move toward independence as a leader in his own right.

Beginning with his first quartet sessions for Dick Bock's Pacific Jazz label in December 1952, Chet would record a series of albums over the next two years that would catapult him to national prominence. His first national tour in the spring of 1954 with quartet members Russ Freeman, Carson Smith and Bob Neel was a success and served to further strengthen his reputation as an emerging trumpet artist. Upon returning to California in mid-July the quartet made a brief tour of California towns for Barnet Schorr before settling into the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles.

Chet's quartet opened at the Tiffany Club on August 6, 1954. The club had been featuring a double bill of the Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet and the Red Norvo Trio. Chet's quartet replaced the Roach/Brown quintet and ads in the LA Daily News featured Chet's quartet as well as Norvo's trio until August 13 when Chet's name appeared alone in bold letters. The quartet would remain at the Tiffany for six weeks, closing on September 18, 1954. Dick Bock taped the quartet on August 10 a few days after they opened. Some audience exchange is audible in the background, but for the most part, the patrons of the Tiffany Club focused their attention on the music and refrained from engaging in conversation while the artists were playing.

The sessions recorded at the Tiffany Club were originally scheduled to be released as a 12-inch LP release, PJ-1203, as announced in the fall 1955 Pacific Jazz catalogue. For reasons unknown, Pacific Jazz decided to issue the live recording at Ann Arbor in place of the Tiffany sessions, which languished in the vault until the Mosaic Records release of 1986.

Edited versions of two tunes appeared on Pacific Jazz anthologies. "Russ Job" was released in an edited version in 1955 on PJ-1206, The Trumpet Artistry Of Chet Baker. "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart" was released in an edited version in 1964 on PJ-75, Timeless Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker, and a few years later on ST 20146 ( with the same title ). Both PJ-75 and ST 20146 listed August 15, 1954 as the recording date, which raises the possibility that Bock taped the group at the Tiffany on more than one night.

From the vantage point of 46 years later, it is all the more puzzling why Pacific Jazz chose to not release these sides. The tunes, for the most part, did not repeat selections that had already been released by the quartet, and several tunes were new to the Baker book. Chet is in top form, negotiating fast changes on the up tempo tunes with ease, as is Russ Freeman whose bop lines provide an exciting glimpse of a talent who should have been showcased more often.

Chet plays the boo-bams, a percussion instrument developed by Bill Loughborough and David Wheat, on "My Little Suede Shoes," "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart," "Frenesi," and "Carson City Stage." The original boo-bams were made out of timber bamboo and featured an array of six small drum heads, each roughly four inches in diameter, strung together in a triangular grid. The bamboo trunks varied in length, which yielded different timbres for each of the six drum heads.

Chet's tendency to play a wrong note now and then was best described by his fellow musicians and friends, Herb Geller and Jack Montrose, in their essays for Bob Willoughby's Jazz In LA. Herb Geller wrote: "In 1952 there were jam sessions every Monday night at a club in the San Fernando valley. The best musicians in LA took part. One night a baby-faced kid introduced himself to me saying we should play together. I was skeptical: anyone who looked like that couldn't be a jazz musician, but we did a set together and it was a new experience for me. This kid ( named Chet Baker ) played all the songs without knowing their harmonies, using his ears and instincts. Sometimes he'd play wrong notes but somehow his reactions turned them into beautiful music. I had never heard anything quite like it up to that time. Thinking back, I still haven't heard anything quite like that."

Jack Montrose echoed Geller's comments: "He had a grace that only the most advanced musicians ever experience. That is, even when he played wrong notes in a solo, which he did often, they sounded right, as if by magic. Do you know what I mean? In other words, it was impossible for him to play anything wrong. He was a remarkable synthesis of profound intuitive talent combined with the intellect of a child." This CD release is the third and final volume of the Chet Baker Quartet's live recordings for the Pacific Jazz label issued originally by Mosaic Records in 1986. Then, as now, it is a pleasure to hear the classic quartet at work before a live and appreciative audience. ~ James A. Harrod January 2001

James A. Harrod is a jazz researcher/archivist currently at work on a history and discography of the Pacific Jazz label. The author is indebted to Joyce Tucker who provided background material on her father's jazz club.

The Tiffany Club at 3260 West 8th Street reigned as one of LA's top jazz venues during the early years of the 1950s. The Tiffany's owner, Jack Tucker, would fre-quently rent klieg lights which would be positioned on the street in front of the club where their piercing columns of light would crisscross the Hollywood sky to guide jazz fans to the club. It was not unusual to have fans lined up across the front of the Tiffany and around the corner waiting to gain entrance to the club which could seat several hundred patrons.

During these years, the Tiffany Club presented a roster of top jazz artists including Dave Brubeck, Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Nat "King" Cole, Serge Chaloff, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, and Art Pepper among others. Chet Baker had appeared at the Tiffany Club in May and June of 1952 as part of Charlie Parker's quintet. Chet's appearance with Bird provided the first validation of his credentials as an emerging jazz artist.

At the same time, Gerry Mulligan was beginning to experiment with a variety of instrumental combinations at The Haig, which was four blocks east of the Tiffany Club off Wilshire Boulevard. It is possible that Gerry dropped by the Tiffany Club to hear Bird, or that Chet dropped by The Haig to hear Gerry. Regardless of how it happened, the reality is that Gerry and Chet got together during the summer of 1952 and created one of the most heralded jazz combos of the decade.

Their collaboration would begin to disintegrate almost immediately. Despite their musical empathy and chemistry, their disparate personalities signaled a cou-pling that was to be short-lived. Gerry had worked behind other leaders while on the East Coast and was ready to establish himself as leader of his own group. Chet had also paid his dues locally and had led sessions at a number of well known Los Angeles venues where jam sessions provided the cutting ground for emerging tal¬ent. He was also eager to lead his own group. It comes as no surprise that Chet formed his quartet a few months after working with Gerry Mulligan and began to move toward independence as a leader in his own right.

Beginning with his first quartet sessions for Dick Bock's Pacific Jazz label in December 1952, Chet would record a series of albums over the next two years that would catapult him to national prominence. His first national tour in the spring of 1954 with quartet members Russ Freeman, Carson Smith and Bob Neel was a success and served to further strengthen his reputation as an emerging trumpet artist. Upon returning to California in mid-July the quartet made a brief tour of California towns for Barnet Schorr before settling into the Tiffany Club in Los Angeles.

Chet's quartet opened at the Tiffany Club on August 6, 1954. The club had been featuring a double bill of the Max Roach/Clifford Brown Quintet and the Red Norvo Trio. Chet's quartet replaced the Roach/Brown quintet and ads in the LA Daily News featured Chet's quartet as well as Norvo's trio until August 13 when Chet's name appeared alone in bold letters. The quartet would remain at the Tiffany for six weeks, closing on September 18, 1954. Dick Bock taped the quartet on August 10 a few days after they opened. Some audience exchange is audible in the background, but for the most part, the patrons of the Tiffany Club focused their attention on the music and refrained from engaging in conversation while the artists were playing.

The sessions recorded at the Tiffany Club were originally scheduled to be released as a 12-inch LP release, PJ-1203, as announced in the fall 1955 Pacific Jazz catalogue. For reasons unknown, Pacific Jazz decided to issue the live recording at Ann Arbor in place of the Tiffany sessions, which languished in the vault until the Mosaic Records release of 1986.

Edited versions of two tunes appeared on Pacific Jazz anthologies. "Russ Job" was released in an edited version in 1955 on PJ-1206, The Trumpet Artistry Of Chet Baker. "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart" was released in an edited version in 1964 on PJ-75, Timeless Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker, and a few years later on ST 20146 ( with the same title ). Both PJ-75 and ST 20146 listed August 15, 1954 as the recording date, which raises the possibility that Bock taped the group at the Tiffany on more than one night.

From the vantage point of 46 years later, it is all the more puzzling why Pacific Jazz chose to not release these sides. The tunes, for the most part, did not repeat selections that had already been released by the quartet, and several tunes were new to the Baker book. Chet is in top form, negotiating fast changes on the up tempo tunes with ease, as is Russ Freeman whose bop lines provide an exciting glimpse of a talent who should have been showcased more often.

Chet plays the boo-bams, a percussion instrument developed by Bill Loughborough and David Wheat, on "My Little Suede Shoes," "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart," "Frenesi," and "Carson City Stage." The original boo-bams were made out of timber bamboo and featured an array of six small drum heads, each roughly four inches in diameter, strung together in a triangular grid. The bamboo trunks varied in length, which yielded different timbres for each of the six drum heads.

Chet's tendency to play a wrong note now and then was best described by his fellow musicians and friends, Herb Geller and Jack Montrose, in their essays for Bob Willoughby's Jazz In LA. Herb Geller wrote: "In 1952 there were jam sessions every Monday night at a club in the San Fernando valley. The best musicians in LA took part. One night a baby-faced kid introduced himself to me saying we should play together. I was skeptical: anyone who looked like that couldn't be a jazz musician, but we did a set together and it was a new experience for me. This kid ( named Chet Baker ) played all the songs without knowing their harmonies, using his ears and instincts. Sometimes he'd play wrong notes but somehow his reactions turned them into beautiful music. I had never heard anything quite like it up to that time. Thinking back, I still haven't heard anything quite like that."

Jack Montrose echoed Geller's comments: "He had a grace that only the most advanced musicians ever experience. That is, even when he played wrong notes in a solo, which he did often, they sounded right, as if by magic. Do you know what I mean? In other words, it was impossible for him to play anything wrong. He was a remarkable synthesis of profound intuitive talent combined with the intellect of a child." This CD release is the third and final volume of the Chet Baker Quartet's live recordings for the Pacific Jazz label issued originally by Mosaic Records in 1986. Then, as now, it is a pleasure to hear the classic quartet at work before a live and appreciative audience. ~ James A. Harrod January 2001

James A. Harrod is a jazz researcher/archivist currently at work on a history and discography of the Pacific Jazz label. The author is indebted to Joyce Tucker who provided background material on her father's jazz club.

Personel:
Chet Baker - trumpet ;
Russ Freeman - piano;
Carson Smith - bass;
Bob Neel - drums

Recorded on August 10, 1954 at The Tiffany Club, Los Angeles.
Recorded and produced by Richard Bock

Chet Baker - Quartet Live - My Old Flame V3 tracks:
01 My Little Suede Shoes 6:30 ( Charlie Parker )
02 Line For Lyons 5:31 ( Gerry Mulligan )
03 Lullaby Of The Leaves 4:32 ( B. Petkere-J. Young )
04 My Old Flame 5:45 ( S. Coslow-A. Johnston )
05 Russ Job 6:03 ( Russ Freeman )
06 The Wind 4:22 ( Russ Freeman )
07 Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart 6:00 ( James F. Hanley )
08 Everything Happens To Me 5:20 ( T. Adair-M. Dennis )
09 A Dandy Line 6:23 ( Jack Montrose )
10 Frenesi 6:27 ( Alberto Dominguez )
11 Moonlight In Vermont 5:06 ( J. Blackburn-K. Suessdorf )
12 Carson City Stage 7:03 ( Carson Smith )

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