Chet Baker was an American Icon. Dubbed the "King of Cool" he was a gifted jazz trumpeter who also possessed an uncannily clear and present singing voice, .
He shot to fame in in the 1950s. Chosen by Charlie Parker to join his band from over 100 other trumpet players he performed gigs from the East Coast to the West, then joining up with Gerry Mulligan's band for a series of timeless instrumental recordings.. With brooding good looks like a young James Dean and a trumpet player's jazz sensibilities, Hollywood soon came calling and he was offered a contract to act in movies. He turned it down, preferring instead to play music in live shows and cut records. This was the golden age of jazz music. Then, no one saw this coming. He went against his record studio executive's advice, and cut his own album in which he both sang and played trumpet, His rendition of "My Funny Valentine" on "Chet Baker Sings", became a runaway hit and he became a superstar. From then on to his death in the late 1980s, he would always sing as well as play the horn....
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Chet Baker was an American Icon. Dubbed the "King of Cool" he was a gifted jazz trumpeter who also possessed an uncannily clear and present singing voice, .
He shot to fame in in the 1950s. Chosen by Charlie Parker to join his band from over 100 other trumpet players he performed gigs from the East Coast to the West, then joining up with Gerry Mulligan's band for a series of timeless instrumental recordings.. With brooding good looks like a young James Dean and a trumpet player's jazz sensibilities, Hollywood soon came calling and he was offered a contract to act in movies. He turned it down, preferring instead to play music in live shows and cut records. This was the golden age of jazz music. Then, no one saw this coming. He went against his record studio executive's advice, and cut his own album in which he both sang and played trumpet, His rendition of "My Funny Valentine" on "Chet Baker Sings", became a runaway hit and he became a superstar. From then on to his death in the late 1980s, he would always sing as well as play the horn.
He was also controversial in his unapologetic use of heroine, a habit he had picked up early in the decade and a drug that caused the decline of other jazz greats, including Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday and Bill Evans. He became as notorious for his drug habit as for his playing by the 1960s, serving stints in jail for being caught in possession. This eventually caused him to relocate to Europe where drug laws were not so strict. The Big "H" (as heroine was sometimes referred to) never seemed to impede his ability to play the trumpet. That is, until an altercation from a drug deal gone wrong after a gig in Sausilito, California caused him near total devastation; he lost his "embrochure" (or front teeth). Without which he could no longer play the horn or effectively sing. He fell into deep despair and eventually wound up at a job pumping gas.
But life's lemons did not keep him down.. Slowly, painfully, he picked himself up; learned to play the trumpet and sing all over again, and by the 1970s reemerged as a regular gigging musician, still with a name that pulled in an audience. He was playing up until the end, which came from a fall from a second story balcony at a hotel in Amsterdam.
But forget all that now: my show is really about the music. His incredible legacy of recordings, I personally chose 16 of his classic recordings (either trumpeted or sung; or both;) a Whitman's Sampler, if you will, (both light and dark) of some of the greatest jazz standards culled from classic Great American Songbook, with a few eclectic "gems" thrown in for good measure. Songs by Gershwin, Kern, Jule Styne, Richard Rodgers, etc. Plus some intriguing little "gems" you may never have heard performed live on stage.
I'll be ably assisted on stage by jazz pianist and creative techno-wizard extraordinaire. the amazing Dave Austin, who actually worked with the legend Chet Baker himself! Twice!! I'll let him tell you about that himself in his own words. And I'm also excited to be assisted by an excellent Bass player from the East Bay Carla Kaufman!
My aim in this show is not to dwell on the more lurid aspects of his life; the drug addiction, the spiral downward following devasting losses). nor his mercurial comeback in the 1970s, only followed by a freak event that, well, did not end well for him.
No, instead I'm going to focus on some of the great music he brought tp us, which to me is the great achievement of his life. And that he went out doing the thing he loved—touring as a professional musician—made his life no mere tragedy but a triumph worth celebrating!
Please join me for one night only; Saturday October 5 at 8 pm at The Harvey Milk Center (Scott Street at Duboce Park) in San Francisco. as we present our show to you. 16 songs lovingly culled from his large treasure trove of recordings.: Chet's legacy is in these melodies that I now pass along to you, my lovely audience. Tickets available at Society Cabaret dot com.
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