One of the best and most versatile American guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Mickey Baker played on hundreds of sessions and added instrumental spice to records by Ray Charles, The Coasters, and Ike & Tina Turner, among many others. He is widely respected among R&B devotees for his bluesy chords and attention-grabbing solos. Baker originally aspired to be a jazz musician, but turned to calypso, mambo, and then R&B, where work opportunities were more plentiful.

This release presents two of Baker’s finest LPs under his own name, which were cut in 1962 during his solo heyday in France: the sensational but underrated But Wild, and the equally splendid Bossa Nova. Long unavailable, both albums have been remastered and packaged together in this special collector’s edition, which also includes 6 bonus tracks from the same period.

Recorded in Paris, France, 1962.

BUT WILD (1962)/ BOSSA NOVA 1963

1. Zanzie
2. Oh Yeah, Ah, Ah
3. Do It Again
4. Night Blue
5. Fuguetta Blues
6. Do What You Do
7. No Name
8. Baker's Other Dozen
9. Gone
10. Mister Blue
11. Steam Roller
12. Baby Lets Dance
13. Desafinado
14. Doralice
15. O Barquinho
16. Parisian Holiday
17. Viens Danser La Bossa Nova (Ting Toung)
18. Eso Beso
19. Chega De Saudad e
20. Saudad e De Bahia
21. Recado
22. Meditaçao
23. Samba De Uma Nota So
24. Brasilian Lov e Song
25. Shake Walkin
26. Greasy Spoon
27. Bandstand Stomp
28. Rock with a Sock
29. Spinnin Rock Boogie
30. Esperanza