When Chet Baker had his teeth punched out in 1968, it initially appeared that his trumpeting career might be over.

Fitted with dentures, he eventually tried to re-learn his horn, and at the end of several months’ work he was producing at least some sounds from the trumpet. But, in constant trouble with the LAPD, and needing money to support his drug habit, he borrowed from all those around him.

After a brief, and surprisingly successful, guest spot on Steve Allen’s TV show, when Baker asked the presenter for money, Allen suggested he work for it, by making an album.

This is the result, with a set of a dozen relatively obscure tunes, of which all but one were by Allen. He might have been in the Guinness Book of Records at the time as the world’s most prolific songwriter, but quantity was no guarantee of quality and Allen’s songs that were picked for the record were trite and superficial. His TV house band rhythm section, all seasoned LA session players, turned up to back Baker, but faced with substandard material and a trumpeter who was, according to his biographer James Gavin, ‘seriously stoned’, there was little they could do to rescue the session.

Accordingly Paul Smith (Ella’s long-term accompanist, and usually a paragon of taste) turns in some of the cheesiest introductions on record, which are only made worse by Baker’s halting and desperate attempts to play his horn. That he finally did manage to conquer his instrument again, and make such outstanding albums as the two Live in London sets from 1983 is little short of a miracle, but I wouldn’t recommend listening to this desperate album to hear how far he sank at his nadir.