Product Description

Jazz Icons: Chet Baker features two concerts by the foremost interpreter of the West Coast school of cool jazz. Filmed in Europe 15 years apart, these two shows seen together provide an overview of BakerÂ’s illustrious career. The fi rst show is a haunting 1964 performance in a Belgian TV studio with a quartet including long-time sidemen saxophonist Jacques Pelzer and French pianist Rene Urtreger. Songs include the Miles Davis classic, Â"So What,Â" and the jazz standard Â"Time After TimeÂ" (a very rare rendition featuring ChetÂ’s Â"CoolÂ" vocal style.) The soulful 1979 set from Norway, with a trio featuring vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid, highlights the growth and maturity of this troubled but inspiring artist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30436 in DVD
• Brand: Jazz
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Enhanced, Live, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 71 minutes

Amazon.com
Physically, the contrast between the two Chet Bakers on view in Live in '64 and '79, another entry in the superb Jazz Icons series, is striking. The earlier concert, recorded (in black & white) in Belgium with a Belgian saxophonist, a French pianist, and an Italian rhythm section, all of them excellent players, finds the trumpeter in pretty decent shape, considering the fact that his drug addiction had already landed him in jail or rehab well over ten times. But 15 years later, when he appeared in Norway (again backed by some fine European players), his hard life had taken a visible toll; not yet 50, he appears considerably older, his matinee idol looks of the 1950s now a fading memory. And yet, amazingly, Baker's playing in both concerts is top-notch, and the Norwegian show is arguably the better of the two. His instrument for the '64 gig is the flugelhorn, and its mellower tone is ideal for Baker's cool, lyrical style. Flashy virtuosity wasn't his thing, even on an uptempo version of Sonny Rollins' "Airegin" or a take on "So What" that's faster than Miles Davis' classic original (the Belgian show also contains the only vocal number on the DVD, with Baker's voice, famously vulnerable and high-pitched, well suited to "Time After Time"). The '79 concert, filmed in color, matches Baker with a drum-less ensemble featuring piano, vibraphone, and bass; the repertoire is more adventurous, including a too-short take on John Coltrane's "Blue Train," a terrific duet with vibist Wolfgang Lackerschmid on the latter's "Five Years Ago," and an extended, beautifully arranged version of Cole Porter's "Love For Sale." As always with the Jazz Icons series, the sound and visuals are remarkably clean and clear, the liner notes are illuminating, and the accompanying photos and other material are beautifully presented. --Sam Graham

Jazz Times
"Jazz Icons is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films".

From the Director
JAZZ ICONS(tm) is an ongoing DVD series featuring full-length concerts and in-studio performances by the greatest legends of jazz, filmed all over the world from the 1950s through the 1970s. Beautifully transferred from the riginal masters, none of these concerts has ever been officially released on home video, and in many cases, the material was never broadcast. Each DVD is produced with the full support and cooperation of the artists or their estates. JAZZ ICONS(tm) comes to you from Reelin' In The Years Productions, GRAMMY Nominated producers of the American Folk Blues Festival DVDs 1962 - 1966.

Customer Reviews

Two views of Chet Baker
This DVD features two short concerts by star-crossed jazz legend, trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker, each set bookending a rough phase in his career. Baker, who was a pioneer and leading exponent of the West Coast "cool" jazz style, led a troubled life, made worse by chronic drug addiction and run-ins with the law... In the early 1960s, he was living in Europe (partly to avoid legal hassles in the U.S., partly because the Europeans adored him...) In 1966, after returning to the States, a down-and-out Baker was severely beaten on the streets of San Francisco, and had to stop performing for several years, slowly making a comeback in the 1970s and '80s.

The first set on this disc comes from a 1964 concert in Belgium where Baker is backed by saxophonist Jacques Pelzer, with whom he seems to have a lot of sympathetic musical inclinations -- despite his drug habit, Baker seems quite robust and still has his hunky youthful good look (he was a babe) and clearly towers over his European sidemen in terms of musical prowess. That imbalance continues in the later set, a stunning set from 1979, with German vibrophonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid and a loose-limbed, longhaired European ensemble that settles into Chet's mellow vibe with greater ease than their '60s counterparts did in the first half of the DVD. Baker looks totally trashed, but also battled-hardened and tough as leather -- a near-skeletal Nick Nolte comes to mind -- and at least a good dozen years older than his actual age. But, oh! does he sound sweet! After spending a decade rebuilding his career, Baker burns with intensity and purpose, and while he has delved into the light-funk stylishness of the '70s jazz-fusion sound, his work is, if anything, more lyrical and accomplished than his classic recordings of the '50 and '60s, oozing out a hard-won soulfulness and hidebound beauty. Lackerschmid is an able collaborator, providing sensitive backing, as well as a fine original tune, "Five Years Ago," which has a gorgeous chamber-jazz complexity and harmonic richness to it; the set closes with an extended jam, on "Love For Sale," in which Baker plays more aggressively than many folks might expect -- he's still laid-back, but man, is he intense.

The 'Seventies set is the real find of this release -- the first concert provides a good contrast, but Baker's heart is clearly more into it in '79; success is much further away than it was in '64, and he is a much hungrier and wiser performer. In a pre-show interview, added on the disc as well, Baker offers up his appreciation for modern fusion players such as Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Michael Brecker; when asked about his own future efforts, Baker preciently repies, "I'll be lucky if I can milk this for another ten years..." And indeed, Baker passed away in 1988, all too young, but having left a beautiful memory. Fans will dig this long-overdue archival release.

The best Chet Baker DVD I own
This DVD contains two Chet Baker shows: the first being a Belgian TV broadcast from 1964 and the second a pro-shot from his 1979 appearance at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. The 1964 TV show is my favorite of the two. In it he is joined by longtime musical associates Jacques Pelzer and Rene Urtreger (whose piano work is awesome) in a quintet format. The video and audio quality is quite simply mind-blowing considering the age of the source material. And Chet's performance (on flugelhorn, no less) is outstanding. His take on Miles Davis' "So What" is pure magic. This set is what "cool jazz" was all about. The 1979 show (in outstanding colour) is excellent and finds him in a quartet consisting of bass, piano and vibraphone. The standout from this set is the lengthy take on Cole Porter's "Love For Sale", which should dispel any thoughts you might have that he didn't have "it" anymore by this point in his life. The packaging is lovely and Rob Bowman's liner notes are excellent. Chet on DVD doesn't get any better than this.

I have been watching this DVD series on a 46" Sony Bravia LCD flat screen (sound through Audioquest interconnects to a Creek Classic 5350 SE amp to Audioquest speaker cables to Harbeth 7ES-3 speakers). I have been knocked out by each and every one of them. The video aspect is outstanding, with great clarity, resolution and contrast. The audio is likewise knockout - great clarity and resolution, with excellent dynamic range.

Honesty requires that I tell you that these DVDs are sourced from old film and TV broadcasts, so they are not going to be to modern studio standards - there is only so much that can be done with these sources. That said, I am absolutely floored by what Jazz Icons has been able to do with them. It's not clear from the liner notes (which are excellent by the way) who actually did the transfers and mastering, but they deserve both an Oscar and a Grammy for their hard work and obsessive dedication to quality.

Jazz Icons is THE benchmark for jazz DVDs, the standard by which all others will be judged.

One of my all time favorite music dvds!!
The music, the sound quality, and the film footage are all great; a real find!
The sound is mono, but Chet's tone is so good it doesn't matter.
Also included is a great biography of Chet.
It really deepened my appreciation for Chet Baker!
A "must have" for any jazz video collection!