muzycy:
Chet Baker trumpet & vocals
On all tracks, plus:
CD1, 1-4:
Chet Baker Sextet:
Glauco Masetti (as)
Gianni Basso (ts)
Renato Sellani (p)
Franco Cerri (b)
Gene Victory (d)
Giulio Libani (arr).
Milan, Italy, September 25, 1959.

CD1, 5-15:
Chet Baker with Fifty Italian Strings (Chet Baker with Len Mercer's Orchestra):
Mario Pezzotta (tb)
unknown (fhr)
unknown oboe, fl, harp & cl
Glauco Masetti (as)
Gianni Basso (ts)
Fausto Papetti (bar)
Giulio Libani (p, cello, arr)
unknown strings (16 violins, 4 violas, cello, 2 bass)
Franco Cerry (b)
Gene Victory (d).
Len Mercer [aka Ezio Leoni] (arr, cond).
Milan, Italy, September 28 (tracks 5-8), September 29 (tracks 9-12) & October 5 (tracks 13-15), 1959.

CD2, 1-4:
Chet Baker Sextet and Quartet:
Glauco Masetti (as)
Gianni Basso (ts)
Renato Sellani (p)
Franco Cerri (b)
Gene Victory (d)
Giulio Libani (arr).
Milan, Italy, October 6, 1959. Masetti and Basso out on 2-3.

Note: The orchestral session was issued in Italy as CHET BAKER Sings and Plays with LEN MERCER and His Orchestra -ANGEL EYES on the Celson label; it was issued in the United States as Chet Baker with Fifty Italian Strings -Jazzland JLP 921. The combo sessions appeared in Italy as [Originally issued in Italy on the Celson label; it was issued in the United States as Chet Baker Sextet & Quartet on the Celson label and later in the United States as Chet Baker in Milan on Jazzland JLP 918.
BONUS TRACKS (CD2, 5-16): Italian movie soundtracks by Chet Baker (tp, vcl). Rome, Italy, 1960-62.

Editor's info:
The complete studio recordings made by the great Chet Baker in Milan, Italy, in 1959. This music is compiled here on one set for the first time ever, and is presented in the order in which it was recorded. As a bonus, we have added music made by Chet in Italy during the same period for film soundtracks.
Includes 16-page booklet

Chet Baker had a long and complicated relationship with Italy. It was a country where he was both imprisoned and adored. His first visit there took place in 1955, during his first successful European tour. It was during this tour that the quartet's pianist, the talented Dick Twardzik, tragically died in Paris from a heroin overdose. Baker was devastated, and following Twardzik's death - for which he felt some level of responsibility - the trumpeter submerged himself in the drug world and in a self-destructive spiral which would last for the rest of his life. Baker would stay in Europe for a number of months after Twardzik's death, playing with different local musicians. His first preserved recordings in Italy date back to a concert at Conservatorio Cherubini, in Firenze (Florence), on January 24, 1956 (he was backed by Jean-Louis Chautemps on tenor sax, Francy Boland on piano, Eddie de Haas on bass, and Charles Saudrais on drums). Three filmed songs from the 1956 Festivale Internazionale del Jazz di Sanremo featuring the same personnel also exist. Baker made his way back to New York in mid-1956 and wouldn't return to Italy until the 1959 trip that yielded the recordings included here. In fact, as Ezio Leoni (the musician in charge of the sessions) explained in the original liner notes, Chet's trip to Milan took place in order to make two albums (one with strings and orchestra, the other with a small combo of Italian players). Baker was already an addict when the contract was signed, and before he could travel he was imprisoned in the States. Therefore, the sessions had to be postponed and shortly af.......
more

Editor's info:
The complete studio recordings made by the great Chet Baker in Milan, Italy, in 1959. This music is compiled here on one set for the first time ever, and is presented in the order in which it was recorded. As a bonus, we have added music made by Chet in Italy during the same period for film soundtracks.
Includes 16-page booklet

Chet Baker had a long and complicated relationship with Italy. It was a country where he was both imprisoned and adored. His first visit there took place in 1955, during his first successful European tour. It was during this tour that the quartet's pianist, the talented Dick Twardzik, tragically died in Paris from a heroin overdose. Baker was devastated, and following Twardzik's death - for which he felt some level of responsibility - the trumpeter submerged himself in the drug world and in a self-destructive spiral which would last for the rest of his life. Baker would stay in Europe for a number of months after Twardzik's death, playing with different local musicians. His first preserved recordings in Italy date back to a concert at Conservatorio Cherubini, in Firenze (Florence), on January 24, 1956 (he was backed by Jean-Louis Chautemps on tenor sax, Francy Boland on piano, Eddie de Haas on bass, and Charles Saudrais on drums). Three filmed songs from the 1956 Festivale Internazionale del Jazz di Sanremo featuring the same personnel also exist. Baker made his way back to New York in mid-1956 and wouldn't return to Italy until the 1959 trip that yielded the recordings included here. In fact, as Ezio Leoni (the musician in charge of the sessions) explained in the original liner notes, Chet's trip to Milan took place in order to make two albums (one with strings and orchestra, the other with a small combo of Italian players). Baker was already an addict when the contract was signed, and before he could travel he was imprisoned in the States. Therefore, the sessions had to be postponed and shortly af.......
more