Chet Is Back!
The story of this reissue reads like a movie: Chet Baker, the James  Dean-meets-Miles Davistrumpeter moved to Rome in 1962. He gets arrested for buying dope, learns Italian in jail, and records a jazz album with the future spaghetti western composer,Ennio Morricone. Reissued in crystal clear digital sound, Baker's wispy, Milesian trumpet tunes float over several, combo-driven renditions of several and bop standards includingCharlie Parker's "Barbados,"Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't," and the evergreen "Over the Rainbow." But the highlight of this set are the four vocal tracks released for the first time in the U.S. Morricone's ethereal string arrangements are the perfect backdrop to Baker's effeminate, but effective vocals, delivered in charming and grammatically incorrect Italian, with lyrics by the stenographer who worked at Baker's trial!--Eugene Holley, Jr.