Baker, Chet - 10CD-BOX: Back Home

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Early in 1955, Chet Baker enjoyed huge popularity and success amongst a wide audience, including many who were not just the usual jazz fans. For a lot of young people of that era, especially young women, he was the image of the "cool" and all it stood for - a mixture of a laid-back attitude, pure sensuality, revolt, and calm indifference, exactly the kind that was on the cinema screens of the time thanks to the new generation of young actors such as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando and the epitome of them all, James Dean. Chet was one of the rising stars of jazz as well as one of the most promising instrumentalists of his generation. At this point, he' just been elected Trumpeter of the Year by readers of Downbeat Magazine, way ahead of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. The great Charlie Parker himself showered praise on this young prodigy he'd come across in Hollywood, which provoked some inimical reactions amongst black musicians, who reproached Chet for being nothing but a pale imitation of Miles Davis. The latter held Chet in obvious disdain. This boxed set presents, arranged in chronological order, the official studio recordings made by Chet Baker between July 23th 1956 (his first recording session following his return to the United States) & July 22th 1959 (his last recording session before his second departure to Europe).