Chet Baker: His Life and Music

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After years of absence, Chet Baker (1929-1988) returned to the limelight when filmmaker Bruce Weber documented his life in Let's Get Lost, just before his mysterious fatal fall from a hotel window in Amsterdam. Like many of his generation, Baker discovered jazz while playing in Army bands. He went farther than many, finding fame as both a distinctive balladeer and innovative trumpeter but becoming an alcoholic and heroin addict in the process. Baker's early triumphs turned sour by the '60s, when he was in and out...
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More About This Book

Overview

After years of absence, Chet Baker (1929-1988) returned to the limelight when filmmaker Bruce Weber documented his life in Let's Get Lost, just before his mysterious fatal fall from a hotel window in Amsterdam. Like many of his generation, Baker discovered jazz while playing in Army bands. He went farther than many, finding fame as both a distinctive balladeer and innovative trumpeter but becoming an alcoholic and heroin addict in the process. Baker's early triumphs turned sour by the '60s, when he was in and out of jails and rehabs before finding some measure of peace through methadone. De Valk painstakingly documents Baker's scandals and successes in a powerful portrait of the tormented genius one critic called "a lyrical, self-taught improviser with a soft touch that seemed to kiss the notes as they flew by."
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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
First published in Holland in 1989, and translated for the first time, this book is the only biography of Chet Baker (1929-88) available in English. De Valk's sympathetic yet gritty rendering of Baker's life blends well with his account of Baker's recording career. Somehow, the author, a Dutch jazz journalist, manages to avoid the lurid and sensationalistic aspects those having only a passing familiarity with the musician usually recount. Leading a wandering existence that included a scattering of wives and children across America, Baker is shown to be a master musician who communicated primarily through music. De Valk weaves excerpts from Baker's As Though I Had Wings: The Lost Memoir (a chilling account of his music-making and life-long search for drugs, both seemingly of equal importance) with insights from Baker's family and friends, making sense of Baker's creativity. In his final years, he seemed inspired to play some of his finest music, so his death was that much more shocking to fans. Recommended for public, academic, and music libraries.--William G. Kenz, Moorhead State Univ., MN Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781893163133
  • Publisher: Berkeley Hills Books
  • Publication date: 8/28/2000
  • Series: Music Series
  • Pages: 294
  • Product dimensions: 5.76 (w) x 8.25 (h) x 0.80 (d)

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 29, 2000

    Commendable. However...

    this first biography of this underrated trumpeter is very light on details. A serious biography of such a unique character in jazz history would cover an easy 400 plus pages. Mr. de Valk has some interesting anecdotes, and clears up some myths, but ultimately, the reader is left wanting more substance. And information. Some of the ratings of Baker's recordings are just bizarre. 'Baby Breeze,' the best performance--track after track--that Baker ever recorded, is given a mediocre rating. The notion that Baker was having 'difficulty' with the flugelhorn on this recording is just nonsense. He sounds damn near like Clifford Brown on trumpet--except prettier and more interesting. I'm grateful for this well-intentioned bio but hope Gavin's book is eventually published.

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