The Italian Sessions
Artist: Chet Baker

Throughout the 1950s Chet Baker gained fame as a quiet low-register trumpeter with a cool tone and a relaxed style. This CD therefore should be a major surprise to listeners who believe he was incapable of playing heated material or of utilizing the upper register of his horn. Assisted by a fine European sextet (including Bobby Jaspar on tenor... Read More

Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete & Friends
Artist: Vince Guaraldi

With the first bossa nova wave still raging in North America, Guaraldi returned to the Brazilian groove full-time, this time in tandem with the gentle, classical-influenced, yet subtly swinging, acoustic guitar of Bola Sete. Reportedly Guaraldi and the Rio-born Sete had played together only once before -- the day before the session at Vince's... Read More

In Person
Artist: Vince Guaraldi

A followup to his surprise hit album Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus, this is Guaraldi at his most winning, alternating between a straight jazz trio and the fast bossa nova groove of a Latin-ized quintet. Nothing fancy, just irresistible melodic swinging in either format, although it is the bossa treatments that particularly grab the... Read More

Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
Artist: Vince Guaraldi

Here is Vince Guaraldi's breakthrough album -- musically, commercially, in every which way. After numerous records as a leader or sideman, for the first time a recognizable Guaraldi piano style emerges, with whimsical phrasing all his own, a madly swinging right hand and occasional boogie-influenced left hand, and a distinctive, throat-catching,... Read More

H.R. Is a Dirty Guitar Player
Artist: Howard Roberts

Although Roberts isn't given terribly much room to burn on these 12 airplay sized cuts - all are three minutes, or less, which was about all Capitol chose to tolerate in those days - burn he does in this stimulating, soulful quartet session. Freely mixing recent hits ("Watermelon Man," "If Ever I Would Leave You"), big band standards ("Satin... Read More

Greatest Hits
Artist: Vince Guaraldi

First released on LP in 1980, this compilation concentrates upon bite-sized samples from Vince Guaraldi's Fantasy catalog. Naturally, Fantasy includes famous tunes like "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and "Linus and Lucy," but there are also some superb sleepers ("Star Song," Jobim's "Outra Vez") that display Guaraldi's wonderful melodic gift, and... Read More

Somewhere over the Rainbow
Artist: Chet Baker
Community Score: 7.17

Taken from Chet Is Back!, recorded in Italy in 1962, Somewhere Over the Rainbow features Baker at his finest, and is an excellent introduction to the musician's non-vocal work. As is the case with most Baker albums, Somewhere Over the Rainbow feels like a quickly put-together session recording. The material is all standard jazz repertoire,... Read More

The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
Artist: Paul Desmond

This set is similar to but not exactly the same as a limited-edition Mosaic six-LP box from the early 1990s. The latter included a Warner Bros. LP that is replaced here by a Paul Desmond date with strings, plus one song formerly bypassed. Desmond recorded fairly regularly from 1961-65 for RCA while on brief hiatuses from Dave Brubeck's... Read More