Menthol Kool

This version is amazing! Recorded live in Tokyo in June 1987, less than one year before Chet's death.

One fan's perspective on Almost Blue.  "I live in L.A., and walking the streets of downtown really makes you see the sordid dark underbelly of this city. A city that shines as bright as a diamond, but is faker than a cubic zirconium. You can see it in the faces of the people, and the differences between those trying too hard to make it and those trying really hard to survive. The streets bustle with the atmosphere of hope and desperation throughout the daytime, it clings to you, like the stench of cigarette smoke after leaving a cramped bar with no ventilation. But at night, these are really lonely streets, where the neon lights only serve to reflect off the broken whiskey bottles and tears of lost souls falling into the gutter. The beauty of L.A. only masks it's cruelness, and she's one evil bitch if you don't have a dime in your pocket. She'll laugh as you fall and kick you when you're down. Then walk away with the next gullible sucker, ready to do it all over again. Whoever called this town "The City of Angels" never realized that this place could be so full of demons." - Arthur AllBlack

I'm not sure I have ever heard a song mood described so perfectly, so poetically.

Chet Baker falls in line with Miles and Coltrane.  Perfect for a rainy night, sitting around a fire, or just taking a time out from the world.