Chet Baker, artwork by Michael Symonds
Don Sebesky takes composer credit here and also handles arranging, conducting and electric piano duties but the song is based on the slow movement of Rachmaninovs second piano concerto. (Eric Carmen borrowed the same theme for his pop hit Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," released one year before the Baker LP.) This is a classic track by any measure; however, I would have preferred this performance without the string orchestra. Do you really need to enhance a rhythm section built around Ron Carter, Tony Williams and Kenny Barron? Baker delivers a top notch solo here, but Desmond steals the show with one of the most incisive improvisations I have ever heard. The altoist would be dead, from lung cancer, before the album was released, and he hardly had enough breath for his brief solo. But he makes every note count in this moving swan song.