OUR INVESTIGATION INTO the Ace jazz vaults produced a set of four fabulous reissues from the Dootone label on our revamped Boplicity label. Fresh digipak packaging and new transfers from the original master tapes mean any tracks used by the out of copyright brigade will have been taken off of our old CDs issued in the early 90s. The experiment has been so successful we have extended it to material first released on Modern’s Crown label in the early 60s.
Crown, Modern’s LP label, quickly became home for budget releases, with material snapped up from diverse sources. For their jazz albums they picked up sessions which appeared as new releases and some sold on by other labels.
CHET BAKER, with his good looks, delicately toned trumpet playing and a singing voice that was both beautiful and tragic, was the poster boy for jazz and a star in the early to mid-50s. His records sold in the tens of thousands and he could have been set for life, but his heroin addiction meant he became unemployable in the United States by the end of the decade. The Crown album tapes were taken from number of sessions held one week in July 1956. These formed the basis of a series of LPs, most notably “Chet Baker & His Crew”. Seen as an attempt to harden up his sound they are notable for the presence of East Coast pianist Bobby Timmons in the rhythm section.
By Dean Rudland
