Having been reissued numerous times over the years under various titles, this Bluebird version of Chet Is Back! stands out as the definitive packaging of one of
Chet Baker's best early-'60s recordings. Besides featuring the original artwork and liner notes -- as well as detailed new liner notes from James Gavin, author of Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker -- the real impetus to pick this up is the inclusion of four orchestral pop singles
Baker recorded with
Ennio Morricone around the same time as the album. Never before released in the U.S., these tracks were purportedly composed by the trumpeter/vocalist while serving jail time in Lucca, Italy after obtaining fake drug prescriptions. Interestingly, in an act of what would now be viewed as monumental "enabling," Pino Maffei, the court stenographer at
Baker's trial, penned the lyrics. Oozing with a wistful, melodic romanticism, these four lost gems are essential listening for
Baker fanatics. Singing -- in Italian no less -- and backed by
Morricone's choir, string and horn arrangements that swell like a balmy ocean tide over light ballads and breezy mid-tempo swingers, this is
Baker as Federico Fellini might have imagined him. The eight original tracks to the main album are also revelatory in that
Baker -- usually pegged as a low-register "cool" player -- really cuts loose on such bop-oriented workouts as "Pent-up House" and "Well, You Needn't." Backed skillfully by a young cadre of up-and-coming European musicians, including the stellar saxophonist
Bobby Jaspar,
Baker may have never sounded better, including on the ballads. One listen to "Over the Rainbow" and it's clear this is an overlooked
Baker classic. ~ Matt Collar