The plethora of Chet Baker reissues continues and each of these releases has something to commend it, although the bonus tracks are what nudges the reissue of Chet into four-star territory. It’s long made sense to couple the July 1959 Riverside sessions (which again include Bill Evans, Herbie Mann and Pepper Adams) with the December 1958 and January 1959 ballad fare of the original album. And this coupling very nearly succeeds to five-star level, except, although it has six useful comparative tracks from July, it still irritatingly omits about half that bonus session. To find it all, one has to go to the 18-CD Claxton edition of Chet’s work on Jazz Images, reviewed in July 2018. But that does not include the Chet album itself. An alternative reissue of that can be found on the Avid Three Albums Plus set (reviewed in May 2018) which adds a separate 1958 session with Johnny Griffin instead of the later 1959 tracks. Confused? Well, that’s the way it’s getting to be with the Baker industry. That said, State of Art have matched their usual exemplary packaging with a facsimile of the Riverside LP, and discographical details on the inner liner. The mastering is excellently done, and the ballad version of ‘How High The Moon’ and Kenny Burrell’s scene setting for ‘September Song’ are among the highlights of Chet’s entire catalogue, making this a vital addition to any Baker collection for those who don’t have it.

The Strings album is less successful, although the music is well worth hearing again. Some toppy remastering (particularly affecting the violin sound) is less true to the originals than other recent reissues (such as the Claxton set) and this one-off collaboration between Pacific and Columbia still has a slightly perfunctory air about it, with each track lasting the length of a 78rpm single. The bonuses are from Chet’s 1959 Italian session with Lee Mercer’s string orchestra, and these are equally shoddily remastered, so it is worth casting around for a better version.