I’ve got something to confess – until very recently I had never listened to any of Chet Baker‘s work. Yes, we’ve all heard a lot about his namesake Chet Faker here in Australia. But the real deal? Not much that I could recall. It wasn’t until I saw the trailer for the new Ethan Hawke film ‘Born to be Blue‘ that my interest was piqued.

Reading up on his life is a fascinating and saddening tale of addiction, brilliance, loss and then resurgence (and more loss). Here was this guy from Oklahoma, who after serving in the military started to built a name for himself as a talented trumpeter. Studying and working through LA and San Francisco, Baker’s bigger breaks came in the 50’s on the rise of the West Coast sound.

Baker was chosen by saxophone legend Charlie Parker to perform with him in 1952, and from there his star began to rise. From this period until 1957, Baker toured and performed throughout the states. Due to his good looks, he was labelled ‘The James Dean of Jazz’. He was even offered roles in Hollywood, debuting in the 1955 film Hell’s Horizon. But all the while, Baker preferred life on the road as a musician.

Things took a major turn in 1957 when Baker started using heroin. From here, Baker spiraled into addiction. In and out of prison on drugs charges, things hit their worst in 1966 when Baker was badly beaten and had his teeth knocked out. With his teeth missing, Baker was no longer able to play the trumpet and had to develop an entirely new embouchure with the aid of dentures. But here’s where things are interesting: Baker could also sing.

Baker has a gentle, soft cooing style of singing. Something most either love or hate. His trumpet work has always been exemplary – but his singing is a whole new thing. Chet Faker said it best:

“He had this really fragile vocal style—this really, broken, close-up and intimate style.”

If you listen to Baker’s first vocal album ‘Chet Sings‘ (1954) – there’s this beautiful melancholy austerity to his notes and phrasing. It’s like Faker said: his voice is very close up and intimate. As if he’s delivering a bebop era Sinatra impersonation. Throughout the album, this sense of intimacy and longing carries. Some critics have noted that it’s like Baker is reaching for the notes and nearly falling short each time – which I think is style unto itself.

I’ll be very interested to see what ‘Born to be Blue’ is like. Baker battled drug addition his whole life before dying in 1988 from a drug related accident in the Netherlands. The film really looks like it isn’t going to shy away form this tragic story, and I’m very much interested in Hawke’s intense portrayal. If you’ve not watched the trailer, here it is below.

And if you’ve not listened to much of Baker’s trumpet work, I’ve also linked his absolutely beautiful rendition of Almost Blue.

If you’ve enjoyed this brief exploration of Chet’s life and work – please be sure to say hello on Twitter or join us on our Official Facebook page.

WKS