Search - Chet Baker :: Chet Baker in New York (20 Bit Mastering)

At a time when the merits of West Coast cool jazz and East Coast hard bop were being hotly debated, the seemingly innocuous title of this album spoke volumes. Chet Baker, whose cool trumpet epitomized the subdued, romantic sound of West Coast jazz, was heading East to blow with the hot tenor sax of Johnny Griffin and the hard-swinging tandem of Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The results on this 1958 reissue are both instructive and enjoyable. The rhythm section pushes Baker to play with uncharacteristic vigor on Miles Davis's "Solar," whereas Baker's command on ballads such as "When Lights Are Low" influences Griffin to expose his more melancholy leanings. Mostly, though, this is a solid, midtempo blowing session, characteristic of the era, and, in retrospect, makes the West Coast/East Coast debate seem a bit overblown, if not altogether irrelevant. --Wally Shoup