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: #19369 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Color, DVD-Video, 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

If you have doubts about Chet Baker, watch this
Watching these two concerts on this DVD gave me a new-
found appreciation for Chet Baker. I only have one or
two CDs of Chet, and I really had him categorized as a
pretty boy who could play the trumpet, but relegated
him to just ok status. This guy could play!. On the
second concert in 79' he is very old looking for his
years, but as others pointed out, he was great!. The
second concert is in color, this really enhances this
experience. Love For Sale, makes this whole DVD worth
the cost.

Great Baker footage
This series has unearthed some great video of Jazz Legends and this issue continues the tradition. Both concerts on this DVD show Baker at two very different points in his career. If your a Baker fan, a Jazz fan, or just interested in great musi buy this disc!

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.