Born Chesney Henry Baker, Jr.
in Yale, Oklahoma on December 23, 1929, Chet Baker began his musical
career as a child, singing at amateur competitions and in a church
choir. His father brought home a trombone for him to play, then
replaced it with a trumpet when the larger instrument proved too much
for him. His first formal training in music occurred at Glendale Junior
High School, but Baker would play mostly by ear for the rest of his
life.
In 1946, at the age of 16, he dropped out of high school and enlisted
in the army. He was sent to Berlin, Germany, where he played in the
298th Army Band. After his discharge in 1948, he enrolled at El Camino
College in Los Angeles, where he studied theory and harmony while
playing in jazz clubs He quit college in the middle of his second year.
He re-enlisted in the army in 1950 and became a member of the Sixth
Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco, but began sitting in at
clubs like Bop City and the Blackhawk in the city, and soon obtained a
second discharge to pursue a career as a professional musician.
Baker played initially in Vido Musso's band, and soon after with Stan
Getz. His break came quickly, when, in the spring of 1952, he was
chosen at an audition to play a series of dates with Charlie Parker,
making his debut with the alto saxophonist at the Tiffany Club in Los
Angeles on May 29, 1952. That summer, he began playing in the Gerry
Mulligan Quartet, a pianoless group featuring baritone sax, trumpet,
bass, and drums. The group attracted attention during an engagement at
the Haig and through recordings on newly formed Pacific Jazz Records.
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet lasted for less than a year, ending when its
leader went to jail on a drug charge in June of 1953. Baker soon formed
his own quartet, which initially featured Russ Freeman on piano, Red
Mitchell on bass, and Bobby White on drums. Baker won a number of polls
(including DownBeat and Metronome) in the next few years. In 1954,
Pacific Jazz released "Chet Baker Sings," an album that increased his
popularity but alienated traditional jazz fans; he would continue to
sing for the rest of his career. By 1955, he had made his acting debut
in the film Hell's Horizon. He declined an offer of a studio contract
and toured Europe from September 1955 to April 1956. When he returned
to the U.S., he formed a quintet that featured saxophonist Phil Urso
and pianist Bobby Timmons. Contrary to his reputation for relaxed,
laid-back playing, Baker turned to more of a bop style with this group,
which recorded the album "Chet Baker & Crew" for Pacific Jazz in
July 1956.
Baker toured the U.S. in February 1957 with the Birdland All Stars and
took a group to Europe later that year. He returned to Europe to stay
in 1959, settling in Italy, where he acted in the film Urlatori Alla
Sbarra. In 1960, a fictionalized film biography of his life, "All the
Fine Young Cannibals," appeared with Robert Wagner in the starring role
of Chad Bixby.
Baker had become addicted to heroin in the 1950s and had been
incarcerated briefly on several occasions, but his drug habit only
began to interfere with his career significantly in the 1960s. He was
arrested in Italy in the summer of 1960 and spent almost a year and a
half in jail. Upon his release he recorded "Chet Is Back" (since
reissued as "The Italian Sessions" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow") in
1962. Later in the year, he was arrested in West Germany and expelled
to Switzerland, then France, later moving to England in August 1962 to
appear as himself in the 1963 film "The Stolen Hours." He was deported
from England to France because of a drug offense in March 1963. He
lived in Paris and performed there and in Spain over the next year, but
after being arrested again in West Germany, he was deported back to the
U.S. He returned to America after five years in Europe on March 3,
1964, and played primarily in New York and Los Angeles during the
mid-'60s, having switched temporarily from trumpet to flügelhorn.
During this period he recorded several excellent recordings for the
Prestige label. In the summer of 1966, he suffered a severe beating in
San Francisco that was related to his drug addiction. In the late 1960s
Baker's teeth had deteriorated to the point where he was fitted with
dentures and had to retrain his embouchure (it is commonly misstated
that the beating in 1966 left him with no teeth). By the early 1970s he
had stopped playing altogether.
Although he remained an addict, Baker began to control his herion
addiction by taking methadone, and eventually mounted a comeback that
culminated in a prominent New York club engagement in November 1973 and
a reunion concert with Gerry Mulligan at Carnegie Hall in November
1974. By the mid-'70s, Baker returned to Europe and spent the rest of
his life performing there primarily, with occasional trips to Japan and
periods back in the U.S., though he had no permanent residence.
In 1987, photographer/filmmaker Bruce Weber began work on a documentary
film about Baker. The following year, Baker died in a fall from a hotel
window in Amsterdam after taking heroin and cocaine. Weber's film,
"Let's Get Lost," premiered in September 1988 to critical acclaim and
earned an Academy Award nomination. In 1997, Baker's unfinished
autobiography was published under the title As Though I Had Wings: The
Lost Memoir and the book was optioned by Miramax for a film adaptation.
Baker's constant need for cash to supply his drug addiction led him to
accept many recording offers he should probably have avoided, while his
unreliability prevented record companies from signing him to long-term
commitments. As a result, his discography is extensive and
unfortunately uneven.
