Chet Baker - Laura

Personnel: Chet Baker (trumpet); Jacques Pelzer (flute, soprano saxophone); Gianni Basso (tenor saxophone); Bruce Thomas (piano); Giancarlo Pillot (drums). From the album "Incredible Chet Baker Plays and Sings".

"Laura" is a 1945 popular song. The music was composed by David Raksin for the 1944 movie "Laura" produced and directed by Otto Preminger, starring Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, and is heard frequently in the movie. The lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer after the film had made the tune popular. According to Mercer, he had not yet seen the movie when he wrote the lyrics, but was aware that it was a romantic, somewhat haunting story.
The song has become a jazz standard, with more than 400 known recordings. Some of the best-known versions are by Woody Herman, Johnny Johnston, Emil Newman, David Rose, Billy Eckstine, Charlie Parker, J. J. Johnson, Frank Sinatra and Julie London (included on her 1955 debut album Julie Is Her Name, Vol. 1).