Chet Baker - Live at Ronnie Scott's

Starring:Chet Baker, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In the early 1950s, trumpeter-vocalist Chet Baker was the "James Dean of jazz." Blessed with good looks and a lyrical and lean trumpet style, Baker arrived on the scene in California at the age of 22, when the great alto saxophonist Charlie Parker invited him to work in his band. Decades later, Baker got involved in drugs, had run-ins with the law, and became a poster boy for the image of the doped-out jazz fiend. This 1986 film, shot two years before Baker fell to his death from a hotel in Amsterdam, captures the painful pathos and poetry of his art in an intimate set at Ronnie Scott's famed jazz club in London. With a breathy, walking-on-eggshells trumpet tone similar to the sound of Miles Davis, and an achy, whisper-toned vocal style, the weathered and weary Baker delivers piercing takes on a number of standards and jazz classics, including "Just Friends," "My Ideal," and "Shifting Down." Punk rock icon Elvis Costello joins Baker on blue-embered renditions of "The Very Thought of You" and "You Don't Know What Love Is." Not to be outdone, Van Morrison of "Moondance" fame duets with Baker on an intimate reading of "Send in the Clowns." In addition to the music, Costello interviews Baker about various and sundry aspects of his life: his boyhood in Oklahoma, his evolution as a jazz artist, and his nightmarish decent into drugs. Along with a detailed discography, career tree, and trivia track, this DVD gives us the best of this talented but tortured genius. --Eugene Holley Jr.
Description
Chet Baker's performance here is both fragile and passionate. Baker is joined by Van Morrison and reunited with Elvis Costello, with whom he recorded Shipbuilding at Ronnie Scott's intimate English club. In interviews with Costello, the pain and happiness hidden between his wrinkled, tired face pour out like so many notes. Chet recalls winning a spot with Charlie Parker's band at the tender age of 22, but humbles himself by confessing to a lifelong addiction to drugs. But through it all, it seems one constant remained in his life, which always brought him back from the abyss and made his triumphs ever so much sweeter--the cool, sweaty, dark, and ethereal sounds of that West Coast "cool school" of jazz. 58 minutes.

Amazon.com

In the early 1950s, trumpeter-vocalist Chet Baker was the "James Dean of jazz." Blessed with good looks and a lyrical and lean trumpet style, Baker arrived on the scene in California at the age of 22, when the great alto saxophonist Charlie Parker invited him to work in his band. Decades later, Baker got involved in drugs, had run-ins with the law, and became a poster boy for the image of the doped-out jazz fiend. This 1986 film, shot two years before Baker fell to his death from a hotel in Amsterdam, captures the painful pathos and poetry of his art in an intimate set at Ronnie Scott's famed jazz club in London. With a breathy, walking-on-eggshells trumpet tone similar to the sound of Miles Davis, and an achy, whisper-toned vocal style, the weathered and weary Baker delivers piercing takes on a number of standards and jazz classics, including "Just Friends," "My Ideal," and "Shifting Down." Punk rock icon Elvis Costello joins Baker on blue-embered renditions of "The Very Thought of You" and "You Don't Know What Love Is." Not to be outdone, Van Morrison of "Moondance" fame duets with Baker on an intimate reading of "Send in the Clowns." In addition to the music, Costello interviews Baker about various and sundry aspects of his life: his boyhood in Oklahoma, his evolution as a jazz artist, and his nightmarish decent into drugs. Along with a detailed discography, career tree, and trivia track, this DVD gives us the best of this talented but tortured genius. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Description

Chet Baker's performance here is both fragile and passionate. Baker is joined by Van Morrison and reunited with Elvis Costello, with whom he recorded Shipbuilding at Ronnie Scott's intimate English club. In interviews with Costello, the pain and happiness hidden between his wrinkled, tired face pour out like so many notes. Chet recalls winning a spot with Charlie Parker's band at the tender age of 22, but humbles himself by confessing to a lifelong addiction to drugs. But through it all, it seems one constant remained in his life, which always brought him back from the abyss and made his triumphs ever so much sweeter--the cool, sweaty, dark, and ethereal sounds of that West Coast "cool school" of jazz. 58 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and poignant.......2007-05-25

The performance here is both. Chet's playing and singing are beautiful, but as an earlier reviewer pointed out, this is Chet in his twilight. The gift of his music is counterbalanced by the obvious punishment his lifelong heroin addiction has inflicted on him. My favorite part is Elvis Costello's rendition of "The Very Thought of You", which is absolutely superb. Between songs he interviews Chet, whose answers are interesting, and very candid. And yes, the Van Morrison song kinda sucks. If you're a Chet fan though, this DVD is a must.

WHERE'S MY STUFF?.......2007-04-06

I, too, have been waiting since early November for this DVD, and though Amazon keeps promising it'll soon arrive, it never does! So, you guys out there will just have to wait for my mind-boggling review till Amazon sends me my DVD or at long last admits it can't get one. And they're still promising delivery in 4 to 6 weeks (same as when I ordered mine 21 weeks ago), so don't bother even ordering your copy till you see my review!

I'd like to review this, but.......2007-01-09

I have been waiting for Amazon to fulfill this order since 7 November 2006. I continue to wait for it to be shipped. Alas!

Twilight Chet.......2005-07-07

For anybody who is a devotee of Chet Baker's music, this disc will be worthwhile. One cautionary note, however; this is Chet during his last years, and the toll that his drug addiction and otherwise hard-living took is clearly evident. The interviews by a very sensitive and respectful Elvis Costello reveal a man of deep insight and intellect. Watching this DVD has made me all the more committed to trying to find more DVD's of Chet during his earlier years when his strength, subtlety and lungs were at their peak. Some reviewers took issue with the pieces sung by Van Morrison and Costello. I thought they were interesting and sincere homages to Chet.

Genius!.......2004-11-22

Chet Baker was always my favorite trumpet player I grew up instantly. I was like 13 or 14 at the time when I first checked out the first CD at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library entitled "The Best Thing For You". To me I'm a professional trumpet player myself who love playing as you know. This was one of his final appearances off this documentary two years before his death. Which plus says whether it was a accident or suicide or whatever, I don't know. But I read it and found out about it.
Chet Baker would always be a legend to grow back from his horn, to the notes, to the rhythm, and to the fans. He fits inside my trumpet influences like Miles Davis, Herb Alpert, Al Hirt, Rick Braun, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Chris Botti, Maynard Ferguson, Chuck Mangione, Arturo Sandoval and many others.

I have seen this documentary premiere on BET on Jazz 2 or 3 years ago and was talking about what Chet was doing in his life, how he got into drugs, how he lost a lot of teeth back in the late '60s, how he gave up his trumpet playing a not-so-how long hiatus is that, but soon return to sound better than the last time. I still got his book just to learn more from him.
'Cause he's a Spirit I would live on in my heart. May your soul, love, spirit, legend and your music be live on more than ever.
Rest in peace, Chet. Truly miss you.

Average customer rating:

CHET BAKER LIVE AT RONNIE SCOTT'S
Starring: Chet Baker
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Cool Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Music Video & Concerts | Genres | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

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Sweden 1985
Live at Massey Hall (CD/DVD)
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Mouchette - Criterion Collection

ASIN: B000JJSKWW
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Description

Chet Baker ploughs a uniquely invidivual furrow in the field of jazz. His trumpet playing is beautifully delicate and takes standard ballards into hitherto unexplored emotional territories. Here Chet is accompanied by Michel Grailler on piano and Riccardo del Fra on bass. Two of Chet's admirers also guest here: Van Morrison performs "Send in the Clowns," and Elvis Costello sings a medley including "The Very Thought of You," "You Don't Know What Love Is" and "I'm a Fool to Want You."

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