The Original Quartet With Chet Baker [2-CD SET]

Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan - The Original Quartet With Chet Baker [2-CD SET]

The Original Quartet With Chet Baker [2-CD SET]
List Price: $25.94
Our Price: $17.76
You Save: $8.18 (32%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

Music CD Cover

Artist: Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-07-14
Music Label: Blue Note Records
Soundtracks:
  1. Frenesi - Gerry Mulligan, Dominguez, Alberto
  2. Nights at the Turntable - Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan, Gerry
  3. Lullaby of the Leaves - Gerry Mulligan, Petkere, Bernice
  4. Jeru - Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan, Gerry
  5. Cherry - Gerry Mulligan, Daniels, Charlie
  6. Swinghouse - Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan, Gerry
  7. I May Be Wrong - Gerry Mulligan, Ruskin, Harry
  8. Aren't You Glad You're You - Gerry Mulligan, Burke, Johnny [Lyri
  9. I'm Beginning to See the Light - Gerry Mulligan, Ellington, Duke
  10. The Nearness of You - Gerry Mulligan, Carmichael, Hoagy
  11. Makin' Whoopee - Gerry Mulligan, Donaldson, Walter
  12. Tea for Two - Gerry Mulligan, Caesar, Irving

Free Music Notes for The Original Quartet With Chet Baker [2-CD SET]

Free Music Review: Mulligan and Baker at the top of their game.
Hit: 5 Stars

These compositions are so good that they are scary.

I have some uninspiring Mulligan CDs but this is not one of them. Here both he and Chet Baker stretch out to the very height of their creative powers, and arguably "Pacific Coast Jazz" (as it was derisively called in those days) is better than, or at least rivals in quality and emotional depth that of East coast (Miles Davis led) versions of Jazz during the same time period.

Aesthetically and emotionally, my mind resonates more with (and towards) the deep, dark, brooding, sonorous, lean, emotional themes of Mulligan compositions, especially those penned here without a piano. I am not against the piano, but here one can see how it can "clutter up" the background, which is where all of the real feelings and most of the music lies. Every one of Mulligan's notes are exacting in both their emotional and musical placement and impact. "Clutter," detracts from this exactness and cleanness. Call it [...] retentive if you like ... but [...] retentiveness has its own emotional and aesthetic demands.

Thus, rather inexplicably, this set sort of answers the question of who "fathered" the "cool" Jazz genre: Mulligan and Baker, or Miles? And while Mulligan and Miles played together in the famous but short-lived Nonet, giving them both claims to the title, Mulligan (or Evans) "penned" most of the compositions during that period. Sure, Miles went on to bigger and better things while Mulligan and Baker stayed with the sub-genre until he (Baker fell off the dope wagon) had worked it all out." In effect, until he had milked it of all its sinews, as say in the John Coltrane "wood-shedding" tradition of doing things. This set is just some of the fruits of that intensive period of hidden labor.

Thus this CD is "living sound evidence" that both Mulligan's composing and playing abilities have always been underrated. Five stars

The Original Quartet With Chet Baker [2-CD SET] Poster

The pianoless Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which launched the careers of Mulligan, Chet Baker and Chico Hamilton, lasted only one year (June of '52-'53). These two remastered CDs cover all 42 tracks that the quartet recorded for Pacific Jazz in that one year in which the band invented itself, evolved, hit the big time and then disappeared. Recorded live at the Haig and in various studios, this music is essential modern jazz.
Gerry Mulligan's off-the-bandstand relationship with Chet Baker could never be considered amiable, but once the two West Coast bad boys picked up the horns, everything was sweetness and light, though often underscored by a subtle and sweet tension. That's never been more apparent than on The Original Quartet with Chet Baker, a limited- edition, two-CD set (42 tracks!) that compiles the group's entire Pacific Jazz output (with the exception of their collaborations with Lee Konitz, available on Konitz Meets Mulligan. As the band that defined the swinging and sophisto West Coast sound, these Mulligan/Baker sides are laid-back but also sly and cerebral. While the rhythm section (bassists include Red Mitchell, Joe Mondragon, Bob Whitlock, and Carson Smith; drums were brushed by Chico Hamilton and Larry Bunker) lays back and affords the horns plenty of room, Baker and Mulligan circle each other like boxers one moment, lovers the next. It's a dance you don't want to miss. --S. Duda

Jazz Music CDs

Music Genres
Top music charts in Get Into Cool Jazz
Quartet Quintet & Sextet ImagePete Jolly - Quartet Quintet & Sextet
Release date: 2007-09-04; Music CD
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops: $21.98
Brothers! ImageAl Cohn, Bill Perkins - Brothers!
Release date: 2007-12-11; Music CD
Best price: $12.71
Price in other shops: $19.98
Primitive Cats ImageCy Touff & Richie Quintet Kamuca & Octet - Primitive Cats
Release date: 2006-11-21; Music CD
Best price: $15.83
Price in other shops: $21.98
Toots Sweet/Conte Candli Quintet ImageConte Candli - Toots Sweet/ Conte Candli Quintet
Music CD
Price in other shops: $34.99
Jazz Loves Paris ImageBuddy Collette - Jazz Loves Paris
Release date: 1991-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $23.71
Man of Many Parts ImageBuddy Collette - Man of Many Parts
Release date: 1996-02-12; Music CD
Best price: $11.05
Price in other shops: $11.98
Nice Day With ImageBuddy Collette - Nice Day With
Release date: 1996-02-12; Music CD
Best price: $12.89
Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh (Dig) ImageLee Konitz, Warne Marsh - Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh (Dig)
Release date: 1999-02-26; Music CD
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops: $14.98
Subconscious-Lee ImageLee Konitz - Subconscious-Lee
Release date: 1996-02-12; Music CD
Best price: $4.37
Price in other shops: $11.98
Modern Sounds from the West ImageCandoli*Conte - Modern Sounds from the West
Release date: 2005-02-21; Music CD
Best price: $16.46
Top Rated Albums
Dream a Little Dream ImageGerry Mulligan - Dream a Little Dream
Release date: 1994-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops: $11.98
Konitz Meets Mulligan ImageGerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz - Konitz Meets Mulligan
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops: $11.98
My Funny Valentine ImageChet Baker - My Funny Valentine
Release date: 1994-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.61
Price in other shops: $11.98
Embraceable You ImageChet Baker - Embraceable You
Release date: 1995-06-20; Music CD
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops: $11.98
Night Lights ImageGerry Mulligan - Night Lights
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.09
Price in other shops: $14.98
Quartet ImageGerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond - Quartet
Release date: 1993-11-16; Music CD
Best price: $6.69
Price in other shops: $11.98
The Best of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker ImageChet Baker, Gerry Mulligan - The Best of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker
MULLIGAN,G/BAKER,C; Release date: 1991-03-26; Music CD
Best price: $7.68
Price in other shops: $11.94
What Is There to Say ImageGerry Mulligan - What Is There to Say
Release date: 2009-08-04; Music CD
Best price: $2.54
Price in other shops: $6.99
Best Of: Chet Baker Sings ImageChet Baker - Best Of: Chet Baker Sings
Release date: 1989-08-04; Music CD
Best price: $7.17
Price in other shops: $11.94
Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman ImageChet Baker, Russ Freeman - Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman
Release date: 1998-05-05; Music CD
Best price: $9.04
Price in other shops: $15.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles