When the first volume of Jim Richardson's informal recordings of Chet Baker playing at the Canteen in London in 1983 was issued, it was clear that in terms of the musical synergy of the players, the extraordinary (and unexpected) fidelity of the cassette recorder, and the playing of the star himself, this was an exceptional album. There are plenty of documents of Chet's later years, but this seemed on a different level to the majority of them. And now we have a new double CD set from the same week that is every bit as good, if not marginally better. The close-miking of the trumpet on ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’ brings us intimately close to the sound of Baker's horn, but we're equally caught up in the fluidity of Horler's piano, and the riposte of Richardson's bass. The horn playing is as confident and strong as in contrast to many Baker recordings of the period the vocals are fragile, ‘When I Fall in Love’ being a case in point. The album opener, ‘Strollin’, is a taste of what is to come, with the understated theme followed by ever more developed ideas from Baker, including a veritable flurry of notes in the third chorus that seem uncharacteristic of Baker's contemplative style. For a document of a great player at a moment when his inexorable latterday decline was momentarily halted and he was able to give us a glimpse of the superb musician he still was, this album could hardly be bettered.