Chet Baker Sings and Plays

With the growing popularity of Chet Baker's first vocal album, Chet Baker Sings, Pacific Jazz producer Richard Bock wanted to capitaliz e on both facets of his young star's abilities. Hence, the trumpeter turned vocalist entered the studio in 1955 with both his quartet featuring pianist Russ Freeman and an expanded sextet including bassist Red Mitchell, Bud Shank on flute, and various string players. The resulting album, Chet Baker Sings and Plays, helped set in stone the image of Baker as the jazz world's matinee idol and icon of '50s West Coast cool. His laid-back style -- a mix of '30s crooner and Miles Davis' nonet recordings -- appealed in its immediacy to a jazz public tiring of the hyper, athletic musicality of bebop.
Chet Baker - trumpet, vocals
Bud Shank - flute (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 9)
Russ Freeman - piano
Red Mitchell (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 9), Carson Smith (tracks 1, 3, 5-8, 10 & 11) - bass
Bob Neal - drums
Frank Campo, Johnny Mandel, Marty Paich - arrangers (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 9)
Ray Kramer, Ed Lustgarten, Kurt Reher, Eleanor Slatkin - cello (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 9)
Corky Hale - harp (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 9)