Born Chesney Henry Baker Jr., on December 23, 1929 in Yale, Oklahoma to a talented musical family, Chet started his musical journey at an early age by joining the local church choir. He was nIcknamed “Chetty” by his mother and his dad bought him his first instrument, a trombone, but he quickly settled on the trumpet as his instrument of choice. In 1946, at age 16, Chet was drafted into the US Army, where he joined the 298th Army Band, when stationed in Berlin, Germany, sharpening his horn skills for the next two years. After his discharge, he studied jazz at college for two years, but dropped out, re-enlisted in the Army, joined the Sixth Army Band. He spent a lot of time in the San Franciscan jazz scene, playing in clubs, such as Black Hawk and Bop City and filling in on bebop jam sessions. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles in 1951 and started playing with Charlie Parker and Stan Getz; Chet’s solo in their rendition of ‘My Funny Valentine catapulted him to fame. By 1952 he joined with baritone saxophonist Jerry Mulligan forming the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, who were leading pioneers of West Coast jazz. The quartet moved away from the hectic sound of bebop, developing a cooler, smoother, and more mellow form of jazz. In 1954 , after a short jail sentence, Chet emerged with a new lyric sound, recording “Chet Baker Sings” and his vocal talents propelled him to stardom. He was soon nicknamed the “Prince of Cool” and the “James Dean” of jazz. In 1953, Baker started his own quartet, producing seductive, alluring, and decadent vocal renditions of standards. He released the albums Chet Baker Sings (1954) and Chet (1959), a collaboration of the most talented jazz musicians of the time: Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
For the next two decades, Chet struggled with drug addiction and was in and out of prison. In 1973, Baker started to make a brief comeback. Focussing intensely on his craft: he recorded and released an incredible 21 albums between 1980 and 1981. Chet Baker Time After Time (1964) with Rene Urtreger, Luigi Trussardi, Franco Manzecchi