Love for Sale in Amsterdam

I paid my respects to the late great Chet Baker last week in the Amsterdam hotel he'd been staying in latterly, and where he sadly died in the late 80s. Back in the day he was the epitome of, and the byline for, cool. His stellar solo performances were off the charts and he played with all the greats including Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz. He will never be forgotten. 

Here he is in a relaxed mood playing Cole Porter's Love For Sale. It doesn't get much better than this. (Filmed only a couple of years before his tragic demise).

Chesney Henry Baker Jr. (1929-1988)

Stop the world, I want to get off

No caption required

It's been said many times, I know, but buying new albums these days is a very sterile affair. We just don't have the same emotional attachment to CDs as we did with shellac* and vinyl; the sanitised sound with all the goodness taken out, liner notes which can only be read with the aid of the Hubble telescope and, please, don't get me started on digital downloads - Artwork? What artwork? I'm just grateful that the great jazzers never lived to witness the iTunes phenomenon; coming home on the bus with a hallowed copy of Playboys under your arm is an experience that can't be replicated by hitting the 'Are you sure you want to buy and download Black Eyed Peas?' button on a laptop - where it will be dumped in your library and, almost certainly, languish unlistened to for the rest of time. Nurse! The screens!

OK, shellac was before my time, but it scans, alright?