Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. All Blues
2. My Funny Valentine
3. Well You Needn't
4. Summertime
5. In Your Own Sweet Way
6. Django
7. I Fall in Love Too Easily

Disc 2:

1. Look for the Silver Lining
2. I Get Along Without You Very Well
3. Conception
4. There's a Small Hotel
5. Sippin' at Bells
6. Tenderly
7. My Funny Valentine (Reprise)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122897 in Music
• Released on: 2004-06-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

A Moving Epitaph For My Favorite Trumpet Player.
Greetings to all.

Chet Baker died two weeks after this Last Great Concert was performed. Sad, really; made even sadder when you listen to MY FUNNY VALENTINE. If this tune (as played here) doesn't bring tears to your eyes, then I imagine that nothing could. Heart wrenching--that's what this tune is. Mr. Peck (reviewer below) was so perfect in his description, that there is not much more I can add, except to say that, indeed, the orchestra and strings on MY FUNNY VALENTINE seem to be soothing and bathing Chet in some kind of morbid, yet beautiful honor. A tribute to one great jazz player, without doubt.

I have loved Chet's work for many years, and, out of the many albums/cd's I own by Chet, this recording is my favorite.

All of the songs here are performed impeccably. Chet's trumpeting is exceptional, given his frail condition. His vocals are moving. I especially love the vocal/trumpet combination on I FALL IN LOVE TOO EASILY.

Looking at pictures of Chet when this album was recorded is emotionally difficult. Once dubbed the so-called jazz playboy, for his handsome appearance, one can see how life treated Chet, and how he treated life.

Sometimes we all have to experience things, whether self-inflicted or not, that allow us to be the person we know we were intended to be. I know this is true of many artists, and it certainly was true with Chet.

I have been blessed to listen to Chet's music, and I hope this recording moves you as much as it moves me.

I highly recommend this wonderful album. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review.

Rock On, Kids,
Dr. Of Style

Gotta Have It!
I've been a Chet Baker fan for over 45 years and think of no better tribute than this album.

Usually live albums are mediocre quality at best, but this one couldn't have been better if done in a studio. And there's no way to describe the way string section sounds when cut live as compared to studio overdubs. Everybody has to be at their best and they certainly were during these performances.

Having loved Miles Davis's "All Blues", the thought of someone else (even Chet) recording it bordered on heresy, but that was the cut that drew me to the album originally after hearing it played on the local PBS station. I gulped and paid the price expecting the rest of the album to be "throw-aways". Wrong!! Every cut is great in it's own way. "My Funny Valentine" is almost gut-wrenching compared to the original and shows the toll years of substance abuse took on Chet, but the strings knock the edges off and make it a truly memorable perfomance.

I don't think you'll be disappointed if you cared for Mr. Baker's performances

Perfect Notes and Space
I've always been a fan of Chet Baker's trumpet playing and his singing, but never took the trouble to analyze his lines until this album. His solos are like perfect modern sculptures in that they don't waste notes, space, or form. Nothing is superfluous. His 2 choruses of improvisation on All Blues and on In Your Own Sweet Way show the genius of his discipline. His attack is a little more "boppish" than Miles, but he uses spaces as brilliantly. I didn't realize just how magnificent he was as an instrumentalist until transcribing some of his lines on this recording. Wow. I also wondered how someone as dissolute and unhealthy as Chet Baker must have been, could have the strength and breath control to play those lines with so much fluidity and strength. He sustained a few languid tones and played some long-winded phrases with lots of notes over several bars. Imagine what he would have sounded like if he actually took good care of himself. His skills were under-rated. For my money, Frank Sinatra in a lifetime of Sundays couldn't sound one tenth as hip as Chet. Mel Torme might be another story. Great album with phenomenal solos.