Enrico Rava 4tet and Francesco Martinelli – Chet Baker, life and music

“Chet Baker is the most misunderstood musician in the history of jazz,” writes Jeroen De Valk in the book “Chet Baker – Life and Music,” published in 2022 for the EDT/Siena Jazz series, edited by Francesco Martinelli. Doing justice to the journalistic speculation and false myths that have transformed him into the stereotype of the desperate and cursed artist, De Valk portrays an incredible improviser, an artist capable of inventing infinite melodies and offering them to the listener with a unique, soft, and inimitable sound until the last days of his existence. De Valk knew and interviewed Baker, writing about him calmly, without rhetoric or gossip. His dry writing contrasts with the dramatic events and makes the story even more moving.

Among the many musical tributes to Chet, according to De Valk, the one signed by Enrico Rava and Paolo Fresu “is the only one that does not make you regret the original.” It will be Enrico Rava himself, who knew Baker well in addition to loving his recordings, who will celebrate the figure of the famous American trumpeter by conversing with Francesco Martinelli, the editor of the Italian edition of the book, and interpreting a series of songs associated with him, along with his young and talented collaborators, three Tuscan musicians who are bringing the name of Italian jazz to the world by following in Rava’s footsteps: Alessandro Lanzoni on piano, Gabriele Evangelista on bass, and Bernardo Guerra on drums.