Results for "Chet Baker"

Chet Baker

Born: December 23, 1929

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was raised in a musical household in Oklahoma (his father was a guitar player), and coming of age in Southern California during the bebop era of jazz, Baker found success as a trumpet player in 1951 when he was chosen by Charlie Parker to play with him for a series of West Coast engagements.

In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Baker became famous on the strength of his solo on their recording of "My Funny Valentine" a piece he was later said to "own". The Quartet, however, lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest on drug charges.

An Uplifting Tragedy: Everybody Digs Bill Evans

by Peter Jones
September 16, 2026

In July 1961, 25-year-old bassist Scott LaFaro was killed in a car accident in upstate New York. Four days earlier he had accompanied Stan Getz at the Newport Jazz Festival, and a few days before that, he had made the legendary Village Vanguard live recordings with the Bill Evans Trio Trio that were released as Sunday ...

The Scornful Four: Hopeful Music for Hopeless People

by Jack Kenny
August 1, 2026

This is an exciting and important album, though some of the language surrounding its release obscures more than it reveals. The term “scornful," for instance, hardly captures the evident musical concord here. What we hear instead is a group in genuine sympathy: cooperative, attentive, and fully committed to the shared purpose of the music.

Norma Winstone: A Timeless Place

by Neil Duggan
July 3, 2026

This 1990 recording unites the outstanding vocal talents of Norma Winstone MBE with the NDR Radio Orchestra. Now known as NDR RADIOPHILHARMONIE, the distinguished German radio symphony orchestra, invited Winstone to participate in a broadcast session. In turn, she enlisted pianist and arranger Steve Gray, with whom she had previously collaborated on BBC projects.

Live From Brussels: Abrupt, Artonov, Toots Jazz Club & The Music Village

by Martin Longley
May 16, 2025

Daniel Proietto & Tsubasa Hori Artonov Lab October 6, 2025 Artonov is a festival dedicated to spaces and places and multi-faceted artistic expressions, music always representing a significant chunk of its highly diverse programming. It's a nomadic festival, dedicated to using buildings with an Art Nouveau or Art Deco character, and sometimes ...

Pete McGuinness: Mixed Bag

by Angelo Leonardi
May 25, 2026

Quella che Pete McGuinness guida a New York è tra le poche orchestre capaci di coniugare smagliante professionalità tecnica, ricercatezza e fantasia. È una big band incantevole eppure è meno nota di quanto meriti e quest'album è solo il quarto registrato in due decenni di vita. McGuinness ha operato come trombonista dalla fine degli anni ottanta e come ...

Abbey Lincoln: That's Him

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 24, 2026

An intriguing byproduct of the current vinyl renaissance, Record Store Day has become a proving ground for labels looking to balance archival reverence with commercial opportunity. Craft Recordings has carved out a particularly compelling niche, frequently issuing mono editions of classic titles from its catalog. Following previous releases featuring Gerry Mulligan, Bill Evans, Max Roach, and ...

Fred Hersch: The Touch of Genius

by Ken Dryden
April 17, 2026

The sound of Fred Hersch at the piano is so distinctive, a couple of bars is usually enough to identify him. The mainly self-taught Cincinnati native excelled early, playing jazz in his home town before leaving to study with pianist Jaki Byard at the New England Conservatory of Music. From there, Fred moved to New York ...

Bob Graf

Born: April 16, 1927

Bob Graf (April 16, 1927 – August 27, 1981) was a St. Louis tenor saxophonist whose career placed him alongside some of the most celebrated names in jazz. Recommended to Count Basie by trumpeter Clark Terry, Graf performed in Basie's small group before joining Woody Herman's Third Herd, recording for both Capitol and MGM. He was a member of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars, appeared on Chet Baker's Pacific Jazz recordings in 1956, and played with Gerry Mulligan's big band in the 1960s.

His most significant recorded document is At Westminster (Delmark Records), captured live in St. Louis on January 11, 1958 — reissued on CD in 1992 as part of Delmark's Underground Heroes series and still available today. In December 1959 he performed alongside guitarist Grant Green and organist Sam Lazar at the Holy Barbarian in St. Louis. In 1958 he appeared as a performing musician on the Universal Pictures film The Big Beat.

Record Store Day 2026 Jazz Releases

by Kyle Simpler
April 3, 2026

Many vinyl enthusiasts get excited when the Record Store Day lists appear, and understandably so: most of the titles are limited-run pressings that can disappear quickly once the doors open. The only drawback, however, is that the lists can be overwhelming to sort through, often spanning multiple pages and covering releases across a wide range of ...