Chet Baker: At The Salt Peanuts Club, Cologne 1981

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Dennis Luxion (p)
Jon Eardley (t)
Chet Baker
Bob Mover (as, ss)
Rocky Knauer (b)
Burkhart Ruckert (d)

Label:

Domino Records

April/2012

Catalogue Number:

891217

RecordDate:

21, 23 and 25 May 1981

It has long been a given that there are hundreds of live European performance tapes in existence by Mis'tah Chet. Some excellent, but mostly hit and miss with a suspicion that (aside from saxman Bob Mover) he often recruited his accompanists from the nearest bus stop – this almost falls into the latter. Every new tape discovery is hyped by its owner as if it were some kind of Holy Grail. Not quite sure what Chetty was trying to achieve with this line-up, maybe just a pay-check, but there are brief moments when Chet's trumpet and Eardley's flugelhorn blend to produce a warm and pleasant sound. As to be expected most of the material is over-familiar, so brace yourself for predictable vocal reruns of ‘My Ideal’, ‘My Funny Valentine’, ‘I Remember You’. That said, aside from Mover's presence, versions of Jimmy Heath's ‘Resonant Emotions’ and Ray Brown's ‘Ray's Idea’ lift this sometimes meandering two hour-plus club set. Obviously some time was spent working on the newer material, so perhaps this was just a dress rehearsal for a much bigger studio project?

Follow us

Jazzwise Print

  • Latest print issues

From £5.83 / month

Subscribe

Jazzwise Digital Club

  • Latest digital issues
  • Digital archive since 1997
  • Download tracks from bonus compilation albums during the year
  • Reviews Database access

From £7.42 / month

Subscribe

Subscribe from only £5.83

Never miss an issue of the UK's biggest selling jazz magazine.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Jazzwise magazine.

Find out more