Chet Is Back! was recorded in Rome, Italy in 1962 at RCA's Studios. It features bop-oriented tunes such as "Pent-Up House" and "Well, You Needn't". His Chet Baker Sextet consisted of a group of up-and-coming European jazz musicians, which included Belgian saxophonist Bobby Jaspar, Belgian guitarist Rene Thomas, Italian pianist Amedeo Tommasi, Belgian bassist Benoit Quersin, and Swiss drummer Daniel Humair.
The album features an original composition, "Ballata in forma di blues" ("A Ballad in Blues Style"), by Amedeo Tommasi. Ballads are featured, including "Over the Rainbow", "Star Eyes", and "These Foolish Things". Compositions by other jazz musicians are also featured, such as Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't", Sonny Rollins' "Pent Up House", Charlie Parker's "Barbados", and Oscar Pettiford's "Blues in the Closet".
Reissue
On the 2003 CD reissue of Chet Is Back!, four orchestral pop bonus tracks Baker recorded with Ennio Morricone in Rome in 1962 are featured, "Chetty's Lullaby", "So che ti perderò", "Motivo su raggio di luna", and "Il mio domani", which Baker co-wrote with lyricist Alessandro Maffei. Morricone arranged the songs and conducted the orchestra. Baker plays trumpet and sings lead vocals on these four tracks, originally released as 45 singles by RCA Victor in 1962 in Italy.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow release
1992 6 track release as the 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' album containing tracks 1,2,4,5,6 and 8 from the original release.
