Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker

by JamesGavin (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  2011

  $21.18

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $7.54

  From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared on the West Coast to become, virtually overnight, a giant of cool jazz - until his mysterious death in 1988, the story of Chet Baker has all the trappings of an American myth. In this biography of Baker's life, James Gavin gives the reader a full account of this dark journey. Starting with Baker's tormented youth - the pain that would haunt his entire life, barely concealed by an enigmatic, ultracool facade - the author re-creates the birth of the uniquely lyrical, if erratic, trumpet player and the fragile tenor voice that catapulted Baker to fame. His magnetic looks and anguished bearing entranced both sexes, but his only real romance, apart from music, was with drugs. Gavin narrates in detail the harrowing spiral of dependency down which Baker tumbled, dragging with him those who dared to get close.

• New

  Paperback
  2003

  $16.59

  From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared in the West Coast and became, seemingly overnight, the prince of 'cool' jazz - until his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth. At once sexy and forbidding, the so-called 'James Dean of Jazz' struck a note of menace in the staid fifties. In this first major biography, the story of Baker's demise is finally revealed. So is the truth behind his tormented childhood. Behind Baker's icy facade lay something ominous, unspoken. The mystery drove both sexes crazy. But his only real romance, apart from music, was with drugs. Gavin brilliantly recreates the life of a man whose journey from golden promise to eventual destruction mirrored America's fall from post-war innocence - but whose music has never lost the power to enchant and seduce us.