Peace Chet Baker

• 1 3 + 1 = 5 07:36
• 2 Peace 04:07
• 3 Lament for Thelonious 10:09
• 4 The Song Is You 07:04
• 5 Shadows 04:35
• 6 For Now 07:28
• 7 3 + 1 = 5 (Alternate Take) 06:53
• 8 Peace (Alternate Take) 04:17
• Total Runtime 52:09

Info for Peace

Trumpet player Chet Baker (1929-1988) came to sudden fame as partner of Gerry Mulligan in the early fifties. His clear tone and his subdued, lyrical manner became hallmarks of West Coast cool jazz. However, Baker's seemingly endless melodic inventiveness matured in later years and reached its artistic peak in the 70s and 80s. Recorded in 1982, 'Peace' is a lovely example of his intimate combo work. The uncommon instrumentation with marimba and the original, somewhat challenging music by David Friedman inspired Chet Baker to one of his most intense and most thoughtful recordings. 'Lament for Thelonious' is the highlight: Written and recorded directly after Thelonious Monk's death, the song cries tears of joy as well as sorrow. 'There are many Chet Baker recordings from his final decade and his true fans will want to pick up this one' (Scott Yanow, All Music Guide).

Chet Baker, trumpet
David Friedman, marimba & vibraphone
Buster Williams, bass
Joe Chambers, drums

Producer by Matthias Winckelmann
Recorded by David Baker
Remastered by Thorsten Scheffner

Recorded at Vanguard Studios, New York City, February 2, 1982.
24-bit remastering from analog tape at Organic Music Studio, Obing, Germany.
Track 8: previously unreleased.

Digitally remastered.

Chet Baker Trumpeter and singer Chet Baker encountered jazz when playing with Army bands where he quickly developed his distinctive style. A short stint with Charlie Parker (1952) was followed by a long association with baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. The pianoless quartet performed and recorded with great success - immediate fame came to Chet Baker and his cool, subdued style. His lyricism became typically associated with West Coast jazz and found many followers around the world. Baker led his own groups after leaving Mulligan for many years in both the US and Europe. His career became somewhat erratic in the sixties when he lived and worked mostly in Europe.

In the seventies he began his comeback and his very unique talent as a vocalist and instrumentalist soon put him back on the major concert stages. Excellent albums were done during the last ten years of his life which were maybe less perfect than his early West Coast work in the technical sense but showed a depth of feeling and intensity rarely heard. Luckily his last concert was recorded: it is one of the finest of his career (The Last Concert ENJ-6074 22). Chet Baker was very involved with the production of the concert, choose the music well in advance which was arranged for an ensemble consisting of a regular bigband, a symphony orchestra and a jazz quintet. He was very happy that he could finally record and perform under the best of circumstances. That night's version of My Funny Valentine,a song he had performed uncountable times before will stand out for all times as an absolute masterpiece of vocal jazz.

Dec. 23, 1929 (Yale, Oklahoma) - May 13, 1988 (Amsterdam).

This album contains no booklet.