Jazz Round Midnight
Issued in a series devoted to jazz at its most romantic, this CD is compiled from several sessions either recorded in Paris in 1955, emphasizing Chet Baker's trumpet with trio accompaniments, or New York in 1965, emphasizing his voice in settings from nonet to duet. He's in good form for all of it, one of jazz's essential ballad artists defining a fine edge between cool detachment and wistful sensitivity. His trumpet is particularly inventive on the relaxed tempo of the extended "Exitus" and simply brilliant on the brief, finely etched "Alone Together." His voice may have been in the best shape of his career in 1965, and the nonet of reeds and rhythm frames it beautifully on "Easy Living" and "Trav'lin' Light." "Sweet Sue," revealing new depths with Baker's surprising ballad treatment, and "You're Mine, You!" are gorgeously spare with justKenny Burrell's guitar, while a young Bob James adds limpid piano to "The Touch of Your Lips." --Stuart Broomer