Search - Torino 1959 / Stuttgart 1988 on DVD

A historical document

L'éternel sourire | Québec City | 02/12/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Full performances without editing of two separate concerts by Chet Baker, in his early days and at the end of his tormented life, just weeks before he passed away. 7 songs, mainly standards. About 1 hour (first half B&W; second portion in colour).

Tracklisting:
Live at Teatro Alfiari, Torino, Italy, November 8, 1959:

01. My Funny Valentine 5:24 (Rodgers-Hart)
02. Bernie's Tune 8:16 (Leiber-Miller-Stoller)
03. All the Things You Are 7:46 (Kern-Hammerstein II)

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04. I'm a Fool to Want You 11:39 (Herron-Sinatra-Wolf)
05. Blue in Green 11:45 (Miles Davis)
06. Almost Blue 4:51 (Elvis Costello)
07. Portrait in Black & White 10:25 (Carlos Jobim)

Live at Theaterhaus, Stuttgart, Germany, April 1, 1988.

Chet Baker is not always in top form though and sometimes he sings just a little out of tune, but these performances are historical and moving. The three songs from 1959 are the oldest moving images of Chet Baker available on DVD, with some excellent Italian musicians (on bass and drums) backing him.
In the last performance (in West Germany), "Portrait in Black & White", the guitar and the piano (played by Chet, mainly with his right hand only) seems untuned one with the other; but again, this is historical recordings. Some of it appear on another DVD titled "My Funny Valentine" Baker;Chet My Funny Valentine My Funny Valentine that have a different track listing plus excerpts from the Tokyo concert, but this one ("Zone free", 0) is a much better choice overall because you get two separate moments in his career: the early days and his final year. Certainly the most important of all DVD by Chet Baker. And beware: the photograph from the cover of the DVD is not taken from the concerts.


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