Chet Baker Sings (UHQCD)

Chet Baker’s complementary talents as both a trumpeter and singer are well known today. Chet’s trumpet and voice seem to be extensions of the same musical personality. However, “Chet Baker Sings” was a revelation at the time, bringing Baker new fame and a new audience less familiar with jazz than with pop music. The reasons are obvious: Chet’s voice is delicate and beautiful, while his phrasing swings and surprises time and again. While “Chet Baker Sings” is now considered a classic and continues to be a jazz bestseller, the “experts” did not initially receive his album very well: many renowned jazz critics disapproved of Chet’s singing as rough, unprofessional, and unmanly. Despite these opinions, the album never stopped selling.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US’s analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording sessions for “Chet Baker Sings” took place on October 27, 1953, February 15, 1954, and July 23 and 30, 1956.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

UHQCD (Mono-Mix)

1. That Old Feeling

2. It’s Always You

3. Like Someone In Love

4. My Ideal

5. I’ve Never Been In Love Before

6. My Buddy

7. But Not For Me

8. Time After Time

9. I Get Along Without You Very Well

10. My Funny Valentine

11. There Will Never Be Another You

12. The Thrill Is Gone

13. I Fall In Love Too Easily 

14. Look For The Silver Lining