Search - Chet Baker :: Candy

The Man with the Horn

J. Hughes | Oklahoma City, OK | 05/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Candy was recorded at the Sonet library in Lidngo, Sweden, on June 30, 1985. The session comprises seven tracks: Love for Sale; Nardis; Candy; Bye Bye Blackburd; Sad Walk; Tempus Fugit; and Red's Blues. Together these performance come in at just under 42 minutes total playing time. The only vocal performance is on the title track, Candy.



This is a superb jazz trio ensemble: Chet Baker (trumpet), Michel Grailler (piano), and Jean Louis Rassinfosse (bass), and it is one of my very favorite Chet Baker CDs. In fact, I believe it is Chet Baker's finest recording and performance in a jazz trio setting. These musicians find the same wave-length and attack this repertoire with poignant spontaniety and amazing improvisation. Each performance is remarkable, if not stunning.



Alone, this CD is worth it for the best version of Love for Sale ever laid down on disc. Simply put, this rendition of Love for Sale may be the best jazz trio performance I have ever heard - bar none. Each musician finds a perfect groove and the interplay is totally engaging, if not hypnotic. This track is an out-and-out demonstration of magnificent musicianship. Chet's playing is as good as it gets on this track - a stellar, moving, memorable performance, and Michel Grailler's pulsating piano riffs along with Jean Louis Rassinfosse's punctuating pin-point bass line make for a listening experience that will leave you breathless. Quintessential, amazing jazz!



I have listened to many great trumpet players over the years, such as Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Donald Byrd, and Wallace Roney, etc. But without any doubt in my mind, Chet Baker, all said and done, was the best man with a horn - the greatest jazz trumpeter of all time. Along with The Last Great Concert, which features Chet in many venues, including large band, Candy is perhaps his finest jazz trio performance. Find this CD if you can -- and pay the price. It is a rare jewel among jazz treasures.

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