Chet Baker Cools Out

The Boplicity label was one of the earliest entries into the jazz reissue market in the mid 1980s. In 2013 we are re-launching the label as the home for our small but distinct catalogue of 1950s and 1960s 'modern jazz'. Each of the releases will strive for the highest quality in sound reproduction, mastered from fresh transfers from first generation mastertapes, and featuring bonus tracks where relevant. All have been remastered from source tapes, have fresh sleeve notes and are packaged in a digipack.

The quintessence of cool, Chet Baker represented multiple roles in jazz mythology, from Romantic icon to supreme musical economist. Except for The Route with Art Pepper, these sides were cut in Los Angeles in July 1956 during the sessions that made up the Pacific Jazz record Chet Baker And Crew.

These sides from one of the doyens of the west coast cool school, are drawn mainly from the session which produced the Chet Baker & Crew album. They are characterised by the contrast between Bobby Timmons' punchy, blues based piano work and Baker's and tenor player Phil Urso's lighter touch. The exception to this line up is The Route, which features the alto of Art Pepper, on his first small group recording with Baker, and bassist Leroy Vinnegar. These 1956 recordings are a real object lesson on the art of cooling out, from the later Chet Baker and his Quintet(s).