The extracurricular, non-Rifftides assignment that I mentioned in the February 2nd post is done, barring revisions. As mentioned, it involves notes for a CD box set of everything that trumpeter and singer Chet Baker recorded for Riverside Records in the late 1950s. Baker’s Riverside association was packed with problems for him and for producer Orrin Keepnews, but it brought him together with a dozen or so of the finest jazz musicians of the era. Among them are Bill Evans, Philly Joe Jones, Al Haig, Paul Chambers, Kenny Drew and Zoot Sims. The box will include several alternate takes and outtakes.
If the artists’ names above pique your interest, allow me to pique it further with a couple of samples that have shown up on the web.
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The pianist was Kenny Drew, with George Morrow, bass, and Philly Joe Jones, drums.
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You heard Pepper Adams, baritone saxophone, Zoot Sims, alto sax (that’s right; alto, not tenor); Bill Evans, piano; Earl May, bass; and Clifford Jarvis, drums.
A release date will be announced for the Baker Riverside box set. Watch this space.