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Chet Baker

Baker (right) with Stan Getz in 1983Background information

Birth name Chesney Henry BakerBorn December 23, 1929

Yale, Oklahoma, United StatesDied May 13, 1988 (aged 58)

Amsterdam, NetherlandsGenres West Coast jazzOccupation(s) MusicianInstruments Trumpet

VocalsFlugelhornPiano[1]

Years active 194988[2]

Associated acts Gerry MulliganArt Pepper

Chet BakerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter,flugelhornist and vocalist.

Baker earned much attention and critical praise throughthe 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals(Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazzhistorian David Gelly described the promise of Baker'searly career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled intoone."[3] His well-publicized drug habit also drove hisnotoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jailfrequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late1970s and '80s.[4]

Contents1 Biography

1.1 Early days1.2 Career breakthrough1.3 Drug addiction and decline1.4 Comeback and later career

2 Compositions3 Death4 Legacy5 Honors6 Discography7 Filmography8 Further reading9 References10 External links

BiographyEarly daysBaker was born and raised in a musical household in Yale, Oklahoma; his father, Chesney Baker, Sr., was a



professional guitar player, and his mother, Vera (ne Moser) was a talented pianist who worked in a perfumefactory. His maternal grandmother, Randi Moser, was Norwegian.[5] Baker began his musical career singingin a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced witha trumpet when the trombone proved too large.

Baker received some musical education at Glendale Junior High School, but left school at age 16 in 1946 tojoin the United States Army. He was posted to Berlin, where he joined the 298th Army band. After leavingthe army in 1948, he studied theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. He dropped out inhis second year, however, re-enlisting in the army in 1950. Baker became a member of the Sixth Army Bandat the Presidio in San Francisco, but was soon spending time in San Francisco jazz clubs such as Bop Cityand the Black Hawk. Baker once again obtained a discharge from the army to pursue a career as aprofessional musician.

Career breakthroughBaker's earliest notable professional gigs were with saxophonist Vido Musso's band, and also with tenorsaxophonist Stan Getz, though he earned much more renown in 1952 when he was chosen by Charlie Parkerto play with him for a series of West Coast engagements.[6]

In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Several things madethe Mulligan/Baker group special, the most prominent being the interplay between Mulligan's baritone saxand Baker's trumpet. Rather than playing identical melody lines in unison like bebop giants Charlie Parkerand Dizzy Gillespie, the two would complement each other's playing with contrapuntal touches, and it oftenseemed as if they had telepathy in anticipating what the other was going to play next. The Quartet's versionof "My Funny Valentine", featuring a Baker solo, was a hit, and became a tune with which Baker wasintimately associated.[7]

The Quartet found success quickly, but lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest and imprisonmenton drug charges. Baker formed his own quartet with pianist and composer Russ Freeman in 1953, along withbassists Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, and Jimmy Bond and drummers Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, andBob Neel. The Chet Baker Quartet found success with their live sets, and they released a number of popularalbums between 1953 and 1956. In 1953 and 1954, Baker won the Down Beat and Metronome magazines'Readers Jazz Polls, beating out the era's two top trumpeters, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. Down Beatreaders also voted Baker as the top jazz vocalist in 1954. In 1956, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings, arecord that increased his profile but alienated traditional jazz fans; he would continue to sing throughout hiscareer.

Due to Baker's chiseled features, he was approached by Hollywood studios, and he made his acting debut inthe film Hell's Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. He declined an offer of a studio contract, preferring lifeon the road as a musician. Over the next few years, Baker fronted his own combos, including a 1955 quintetfeaturing Francy Boland, where Baker combined playing trumpet and singing. He became an icon of theWest Coast "cool school" of jazz, helped by his good looks and singing talent. Baker's 1956 recording,released for the first time in its entirety in 1989 as The Route, with Art Pepper, helped further the West Coastjazz sound and became a staple of cool jazz.

Drug addiction and decline



Baker in Belgium, 1983

Baker began using heroin in the 1950s, resulting in an addiction that lasted the remainder of his life. Attimes, Baker pawned his instruments for money to maintain his drug habit. In the early 1960s, he servedmore than a year in prison in Italy on drug charges; he was later expelled from both West Germany and theUK for drug-related offenses. Baker was eventually deported from West Germany to the United States afterrunning afoul of the law there a second time. He settled in Milpitas in northern California, where he playedin San Jose and San Francisco between short jail terms served for prescription fraud.[8]

In 1968, Baker was savagely beaten (allegedly while attempting to buy drugs) after a gig in The Tridentrestaurant in Sausalito, California sustaining severe cuts on the lips and broken front teeth, which ruined hisembouchure. He stated in the film Let's Get Lost that an acquaintance attempted to rob him one night butbacked off, only to return the next night with a group of several men who chased him. He entered a car andbecame surrounded. Instead of rescuing him, the people inside the car pushed him back out onto the street,where the chase by his attackers continued, and subsequently he was beaten to the point that his teeth, neverin good condition to begin with, were knocked out, leaving him without the ability to play his horn. He tookodd jobs, among them pumping gas. Meanwhile he was fitted for dentures and worked on his embouchure.Three months later he got a gig in New York.

Between 1966 and 1974, Baker mostly played flugelhorn and recorded music that could mostly be classifiedas West Coast jazz.[8]

Comeback and later careerAfter developing a new embouchure resulting from dentures, Bakerreturned to the straight-ahead jazz that began his career. He relocatedto New York City and began performing and recording again,including with guitarist Jim Hall. Later in the 1970s, Baker returnedto Europe, where he was assisted by his friend Diane Vavra, whotook care of his personal needs and otherwise helped him during hisrecording and performance dates.

From 1978 until his death in 1988, Baker resided and played almostexclusively in Europe, returning to the US roughly once a year for afew performances. This was Baker's most prolific era as a recordingartist. However, as his extensive output is strewn across numerous,mostly small European labels, none of these recordings ever reacheda wider audience, even though many of them were well received bycritics, who maintain that the period was one of Baker's most matureand rewarding. Of particular importance are Baker's quartet featuringthe pianist Phil Markowitz (197880) and his trio with guitaristPhilip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (198385). Healso toured with saxophonist Stan Getz during this period.

In 1983, British singer Elvis Costello, a longtime fan of Baker, hiredthe trumpeter to play a solo on his song "Shipbuilding", from the album Punch the Clock. The song exposedBaker's music to a new audience. Later, Baker often featured Costello's song "Almost Blue" (inspired byBaker's version of "The Thrill Is Gone") in his concert sets, and recorded the song for Let's Get Lost, adocumentary film about his life.



Plaque at the Hotel Prins Hendrik, inAmsterdam

The video material recorded by Japanese television during Baker's 1987 tour in Japan showed a man whoseface looked much older than he was, but his trumpet playing was alert, lively and inspired. Baker recordedthe live album Chet Baker in Tokyo with his quartet featuring pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein van deGeyn and drummer John Engels less than a year before his death, and it was released posthumously. SilentNight, a recording of Christmas music, was recorded with Christopher Mason in New Orleans in 1986 andreleased in 1987.

CompositionsBaker's compositions included "Chetty's Lullaby", "Freeway", "Early Morning Mood", "Two a Day", "SoChe Ti Perder" ("I Know I Will Lose You"), "Il Mio Domani" ("My Tomorrow"), "Motivo Su Raggio DiLuna" ("Tune on a Moon Beam"), "The Route", "Skidadidlin'", "New Morning Blues", "Blue Gilles","Dessert", and "Anticipated Blues".

DeathAt about 3:00 am on May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on thePrins Hendrikkade, near the Zeedijk, the street below his second-story room of Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,with serious wounds to his head. Heroin and cocaine were found inhis hotel room, and an autopsy also found these drugs in his body.There was no evidence of a struggle, and the death was ruled anaccident. A plaque outside the hotel memorializes him and the roomhe was staying in, No. 210, is named "The Chet Baker Room".[9]

Baker is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood,California.

LegacyBaker was photographed by William Claxton for his book YoungChet: The Young Chet Baker. An Academy Award-nominated 1988documentary about Baker, Let's Get Lost, portrays him as a culturalicon of the 1950s, but juxtaposes this with his later image as a drugaddict. The film, directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, wasshot in black-and-white and includes a series of interviews withfriends, family (including his three children by third wife CarolBaker), associates and women friends, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life, and with interviewswith Baker from his last years.

Time after Time: The Chet Baker Project, written by playwright James O'Reilly, toured Canada in 2001 tomuch acclaim.[10] The musical play Chet Baker Speedball explores aspects of his life and music, and waspremiered in London at the Oval House Theatre in February 2007, with further development of the scriptand performances leading to its revival at the 606 Club in the London Jazz Festival of November 2007.



Baker was reportedly the inspiration for the character Chad Bixby, played by Robert Wagner in the 1960film All the Fine Young Cannibals.[11] Another film, to be titled Prince of Cool, about Baker's life, wascancelled as of January 2008.[12]

In 1991, singer/songwriter David Wilcox recorded the song "Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song" on his albumHome Again, speculating on what might have been Baker's last thoughts before falling to his death. Thesong was later covered by k.d. lang as "My Old Addiction" on her 1997 album Drag.

The song "Chet Baker", which appears on the 2007 CD Wally Page and Johnny Mulhern: Live at theAnnesley House, by Irish folk singer-songwriter Wally Page, describes the end of Baker's life in Amsterdam.

Jeroen de Valk has written a biography of Baker which is available in several languages: Chet Baker: HisLife and Music is the English translation.[13] Other biographies include James Gavin's Deep In A DreamThe Long Night of Chet Baker, and Matthew Ruddick's Funny Valentine. Baker's "lost memoirs" areavailable in the book As Though I Had Wings, which includes an introduction by Carol Baker.[8]

HonorsIn 1987 Chet Baker was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.In 1989 he was elected to Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame by that magazine's Critics Poll.In 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.In 2005 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimedJuly 2 as "Chet Baker Day".In 2007 Mayor of the City of Tulsa, Kathy Taylor, proclaimed December 23 as "Chet Baker Day".

DiscographyFilmography

(1959) Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti, by Nanni Loy: music(1960) Howlers in the Dock, by Lucio Fulci: actor(1963) Ore rubate, by Daniel Petrie: music(1963) Tromba Fredda, by Enzo Nasso: actor and music(1964) Nudi per vivere, by Elio Montesi: music(1964) Notte pi lunga, by Jos Benazeraf: music(1988) Let's Get Lost, by Bruce Weber: music

Further readingGavin, James. Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.



Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Chet Baker.

References1. Jazz Discography Project. "Chet Baker Discography at" (http://www.jazzdisco.org/chet-baker/discography/).

Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved 2013-12-18.2. Chet Baker. "Allmusic.com" (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chet-baker-p6049). Allmusic.com. Retrieved

2013-12-18.3. Gelly, David, Icons of Jazz: A History In Photographs, 19002000, San Diego, Ca: Thunder Bay Books, 2000, ISBN

1-57145-268-04. Hip, the history (http://books.google.com/books?

id=oxzubo1GS7oC&pg=PA265&dq=%22Chet+Baker%22+autopsy+OR+coroner&lr=&cd=2#v=onepage&q=%22Chet%20Baker%22%20autopsy%20OR%20coroner&f=false) By John Leland. Harper Collins. p. 265

5. Gavin, J.: Deep In A Dream: The Long Night Of Chet Baker, p.10. Chicago Review Press, 20116. Gordon, R.: Jazz West Coast, p. 72. Quartet Books, 1986.7. "Chet Baker, "My Funny Valentine" - American Songwriter" (http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/01/chet-

baker-my-funny-valentine/). American Songwriter. Retrieved January 21, 2015.8. Allmusic Biography (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p6049)9. Europa. "Janela ou Corredor? O hotel em Amsterd onde Chet Baker se hospedou | Janela ou Corredor?"

(http://janelaoucorredor.com.br/2014/03/21/o-hotel-onde-se-hospedou-chet-baker-em-amsterda/) (in Portuguese).Janelaoucorredor.com.br. Retrieved 10 March 2015.

10. "Time after time: The Chet Baker project. (Review) (theater review) | Variety | Find Articles at BNET.com"(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb1437/is_200104/ai_n5944153). Findarticles.com. Retrieved 2013-12-18.

11. Margarita Landazuri, "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/78383%7C0/All-the-Fine-Young-Cannibals.html), Turner Classic Movies.

12. "MTV Movies Blog " Josh Hartnett Won't Be Getting Jazzed For 'Cool' Chet Baker Flick"(http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/01/31/josh-hartnett-abandons-cool-chet-baker-flick/). Moviesblog.mtv.com.January 31, 2008. Retrieved 2013-12-18.

13. "Jeroendevalk.nl" (http://www.jeroendevalk.nl/). Jeroendevalk.nl. Retrieved 2013-12-18.

External linksChet Baker Foundation (http://www.chetbakerjazz.com)Chet Baker (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0048329/) at theInternet Movie DatabaseChet Baker (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8527) at Find a GraveEncyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Baker, Chet(http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/B/BA007.html)

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Categories: 1929 births 1988 deaths People from Payne County, Oklahoma20th-century American singers Accidental deaths in the Netherlands American jazz singersAmerican jazz trumpeters American male singers American people of Norwegian descentColumbia Records artists Cool jazz musicians Cool jazz trumpeters EmArcy Records artistsEnja Records artists Galaxy Records artists Jazz musicians from Oklahoma Prestige Records artistsRiverside Records artists SteepleChase Records artists Timeless Records artists Verve Records artistsPeople from Milpitas, California Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery

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