Chet — Chet Baker
Ballads from 1958 with Bill Evans and Kenny Burrell, where the SACD layer reveals tape dropouts and saturation that the CD layer turns into something like clipping.
This is a review I wrote for SA-CD.net and published there on the 7th of January 2006. SA-CD.net has since become hraudio.net and the old review pages went with it, so this is reproduced from the Internet Archive’s capture. It ran as a site review, and carries a joint copyright line with SA-CD.net.
The review is reproduced as it stood. Only the site’s own furniture around it — the star graphics, the “was this review helpful?” footer — has been dropped, and the ratings it carried are restated as numbers below.
Analogue Productions · APJ 1135 · hybrid disc · stereo only · Analogue recording
Performance 4/5 · Sonics 3/5
It’s hard to believe this album was recorded in 1958, and captures Chet Baker in his heyday, when he was widely acclaimed as one of the leading lights of West Coast cool jazz, and his movie star looks meant that Hollywood was knocking on his door.
Primarily a collection on instrumental slow ballads, this album should appeal to those who like their jazz intimate, sultry and silky smooth, but also with a healthy dose of real jazz “bite.”
The line up includes some famous jazz figures in their own right: Herbie Mann on flute, Kenny Burrell on guitar and Bill Evans on piano. Other musicians include Pepper Adams on sax, Paul Chambers on bass and Connie Kay/Philly Joe Jones on drums.
This is a Hybrid Stereo disc. The SA-CD stereo version ruthlessly reveals tape imperfections, with the hiss sounding a lot more defined than on the CD layer, and tape dropouts very apparent. The SA-CD version also handles the numerous instances of analog tape saturation quite faithfully, which on the CD layer resulted in a slight crackle reminiscent of clipping.
The overall sound is quite nice, with a nice presence and air around the instruments, no doubt helped by the natural dither provided by the tape hiss. The instruments sound just a touch recessed and too relaxed for my liking. Given that this is an early stereo recording, there’s a lot of hard panning to the left and right so the soundstage is a bit artificial. The SA-CD stereo layer sounds a bit softer (in level as well as perceived dynamics) than the CD layer - some may prefer the CD layer’s more chiselled sound but I think the SA-CD stereo version is truer.
Overall I would recommend this disc, mainly due to the content rather than the sound. I’m a big fan of Chet Baker, and must admit I find his looks extremely attractive, and his ballads always melt my heart.