As Jazzwise readers will know from many a review, recordings from Chet Baker's latter period from 1969 to 1988 are quite a mixed bag. There have been some less than good ones, but also (notably the Live in London sessions) some excellent ones. I’m pleased to report that the jazz antennae of co-producer Zev Feldman have successfully winkled out a pair of fine Dutch radio recordings from a time when Chet's chops were in good shape and he had two first-rate accompanying groups.

There's little to pick between the backing bands, although the notes tell us that the second (with Elsen, Kaihati and Ineke) was slightly nonplussed when Chet showed up without any sheet music and attempted to teach them harmonies to some songs with one finger on the piano. But they rise magnificently to the occasion, notably on ‘Old Devil Moon’ that closes the second CD or LP. The other band was much more of a regular working group, with the 27-year-old Phil Markowitz sounding as if he has many more years of experience behind him, the subtle but perfectly supportive drumming of Charlie Rice who’d been Chet's drummer in the early 1960s, and the peerless Belgian bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse.

Some of the tracks – as in many a Baker session from the period – are a little over-long, but for once his singing is dead in tune and his trumpet inventions sound fresh and inspired, maybe helped by the obvious enthusiasm and commitment of his fellow musicians. There are several high points, but two stand out: one is a soulful reflective version of Miles Davis’ ‘Nardis’ and the other an uptempo bebop-tinged ‘The Best Thing For You’ that harks back to Baker's 1950s heyday, though with accompanists who were even more on the case than the Russ Freeman trio of those days.