Whisky - UK (2020-05)

Issue 167 | Whisky Magazine 35

T

rumpet player and jazz

singer Chesney Henry

Baker, Jr. was born in Yale,

Oklahoma on 23 December

1929. Around the age of 10

he started to play the trombone, a gift

from his father, a professional guitarist.

Chet would exchange the trombone

for a trumpet after a while, the former

instrument being too large for him to

handle. In later years he would also

ƒ†‘’––Š‡βŽ—‰‡ŽŠ‘”Ǥ

The local Glendale Junior High School

provided him with a bit of a musical

education, until he left to join the army

in 1946, at the age of 16. Transported

to then West Berlin shortly thereafter,

he started playing in the band of the

298th Regiment. After two years he

left and went to Los Angeles where he

managed to study theory and harmony,

but quit the El Camino College after a

year to join the army again. It didn’t last

long; the call to music was too great.

He started to play in an army band in

San Francisco and was soon spotted in

various jazz clubs, where he teamed up

with Stan Getz.

It was Charlie Parker who boosted

Chet’s career as a trumpet player when

he invited him to play in a series of

concerts on the West Coast. Parker must

have remembered him well, as some

time later in New York he warned Miles

Davis about “that little white cat on the

West Coast.”

Chet later joined the Gerry Mulligan

Quartet, where he might have picked up

his heroin habit. Within a year, Mulligan

was arrested for drugs possession and

had to serve time. The Quartet had been

a tremendous success from its start,

and Baker continued to perform with

his own groups for the years to come

and would forever be considered a front

man of the ‘cool jazz’ of the West Coast.

In the 1960s Chet Baker moved to

Europe where he soon was convicted

for drugs use and possession, which led

to imprisonment in Italy and Germany.

It was the start of a steep decline, and

after several drug-related incidents,

–Š‡–”—’‡–‡”ƒ†•‹‰‡”™ƒ•‘ˆβ‹…‹ƒŽŽ›

deported from Germany back to the

USA. He returned to California and

was convicted several times for petty

crimes. The year 1966 marked the

depth of his downfall when he was

beaten up severely during a rip-deal.

The remains of his teeth after years of

heavy drug abuse were kicked out, and

Chet lost his embouchure altogether.

Slowly he learned to play with dentures,

exchanging the trumpet for the

βŽ—‰‡ŽŠ‘”‘•–‘ˆ–Š‡–‹‡ǡ•‹…‡‹–

was easier to play. His playing style

drifted into an early form of smooth

jazz, combined with singing. His

inimitable voice can best be heard on

My Funny Valentine.

After he regained his embouchure

he returned to straight jazz and moved

back to Europe in 1978 after a short

stop in New York. The next decade he

would only return to the USA for an

occasional gig. In the early 1980s,

Chet started to play with jazz musicians

such as guitarist Philip Catherine and

pop star Elvis Costello, with whom

he scored a tiny hit in the UK and

therefore was recognised by an entirely

new audience.

Although his health suffered badly

from his drug abuse and he was

sometimes unreliable about showing

up, Chet Baker grew as a trumpet

player and singer. In hindsight his last

years proved to be his most mature

ones, musically speaking. In 1987 he

performed in Tokyo. The concert was

recorded live and then later released

after his untimely death in 1988. It’s

considered by many as one of his best

recordings ever.

On 13 May 1988, Chet Baker died as

result of falling from a hotel window,

aka defenestration, in Amsterdam.

There are several theories about his

death, ranging from suicide to murder.

No evidence was found for either cause.

Autopsy results showed there were

drugs in his body, and the police found

an amount of cocaine and heroin in his

hotel room. A plausible explanation is

him losing his balance when looking

out of the window, most likely under

034 - 036 - Music-WM 167 .indd 35 09 / 04 / 2020 09 : 30