Chet Baker: Lady Bird

Chet Baker's catalog is frustratingly inconsistent. On certain dates the trumpeter sounds brilliant, sharp and inventive; on others, incoherent and confused. On "Lady Bird," taken from his 1959 sessions in Milan, we hear Baker on one of his better outings, his tone and attack clear as a bell, his ideas well defined, complete and decisively executed with a graceful flow. In some of Baker's lesser efforts during his darker periods there is a distinct sadness in his playing, but not here. The audible joy in his sound is unsurprising given his love of Italy and the Italians' reverence for him (not just for his trumpetingBaker starred in a few Italian movies in the 1950s as well). He plays confidently and with a touch more aggressiveness than one normally expects from the Prince of Cool, backed by a more-than-competent Italian quintet well studied in American jazz.