Chet is Back

RESTOCK. Having been reissued numerous times over the years under various titles, this Bluebird version of Chet Is Back! stands out as the definitive packaging of one of Chet Baker's best early-'60s recordings. Besides featuring the original artwork and liner notes — as well as detailed new liner notes from James Gavin, author of Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker — the real impetus to pick this up is the inclusion of four orchestral pop singles Baker recorded with Ennio Morricone around the same time as the album. Never before released in the U.S., these tracks were purportedly composed by the trumpeter/vocalist while serving jail time in Lucca, Italy, after obtaining fake drug prescriptions. . Singing in Italian no less, backed by Morricone's choir, string and horn arrangements that swell like a balmy ocean tide over light ballads and breezy mid-tempo swingers, this is Baker as Federico Fellini might have imagined him. The eight original tracks to the main album are also revelatory.