Chet Baker (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool".Heralded as the “most gifted trumpeter” by saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, Baker was a melodic improviser with both his horn and his voice.
The trumpeter was born Chesney Henry Baker Jr. in Yale, Oklahoma, and raised in a musical household. His father, Chesney Baker Sr., was a professional Western swing guitarist, and his mother, Vera Moser, was a pianist who worked in a perfume factory. His family moved to California in 1940. Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir.
His father, a fan of Jack Teagarden, gave him a trombone, before switching to the trumpet at the age of 13. He was drafted in 1946 and joined the 298th Army Band.He started sitting in at San Francisco be-bop jam sessions in 1950, while he was a member of the Presidio Army Band. Chet’s big break came in 1952 when he moved to Los Angeles and won the highly coveted spot as Charlie Parker’s trumpeter after an audition. He was just 22.
Soon thereafter, he met Gerry Mulligan. Along with the other members of their quartet, they pioneered a style of music which critics called West Coast Jazz. The genre’s light rhythms contrasted the hard and heavy drives of its eastern counterpart, making it a musical innovation.The period of 1953-1960 was the pinnacle of Baker’s popularity.
With a following drawn by his Miles Davis-like style and by his resemblance to James Dean, Mr. Baker won jazz polls in Metronome and Down Beat magazines, and started his own group in 1953. In 1954, after he released an album called ''Chet Baker Sings and Plays,'' he emerged as the No. 4 male vocalist in Down Beat's poll. ''I don't know whether I'm a trumpet player who sings or a singer who plays the trumpet,'' he told an interviewer.
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| Chet Baker with Miles Davis |
Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals. Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." In 1955, he made an eight-month European tour, the longest for an American jazz musician up to that date and was invited to tour with jazz luminaries such as Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan.
He also was offered roles in domestic and international films, as producers favored his model good looks and irrefutable magnetism which they believed translated well on the big screen. Baker starred in two films (“Hell’s Horizon” in 1955 and “Howlers of the Dock” in 1960) and performed the music for a third (“Fiasco in Milan,”1959).
But in the late 1950's, heroin addiction began to take its toll on his career. He was arrested repeatedly through the late 1950's and 1960's on narcotics-related charges, both in the United States and in Europe; in the early 1960's he was jailed for 16 months in Italy, and he was deported by Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany. Through most of the 1960's, his recordings were disappointing as his addiction continued.
In 1968, he had his teeth knocked out by a disgruntled drug dealer. After the beating, which left him near death, he stopped performing for two years while recovering and turned to methadone. When he began performing again in the 1970's, critics praised his firmer tone and more aggressive solos, and he toured through the 1970's and 1980's. While abroad in 1979, Baker made 11 records and in the following year he recorded 10 for various American and European labels. These were some of the most prolific years of Baker’s life since the ’50s.
When he did make the rare stateside appearance, it was usually to visit friends and relatives or to perform an irresistible gig, as he did in 1983 when Elvis Costello compensated him generously for a solo in his song “Shipbuilding.” A six month royalty statement during 1987 documented that he worked in nine countries during that time span alone. Another enticing opportunity was appearing in a documentary about his life. “Let’s Get Lost” was directed by renowned fashion photographer Bruce Weber and chronicled Baker’s life from his time as a ’50s heartthrob to his nomadic existence in the ’80s. It was released four our months after his death.
Early on May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on the street below his room in Hotel Prins Hendrik, Amsterdam, with serious wounds to his head, apparently having fallen from the second-story window. Heroin and cocaine were found in his room and in his body. No evidence of a struggle was found, and the death was ruled an accident. According to another account, he inadvertently locked himself out of his room and fell while attempting to cross from the balcony of the vacant room adjacent to his own. A plaque was placed outside the hotel in his memory.
At the time of his death, Mr. Baker was making several scheduled appearances in the Netherlands as part of a tour that also included West Berlin and France.
(Edited from New York Times, Library of
Congress Blogs, Washington Post & Wikipedia)