biography
| name: |
Baker, Chet
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popular name of Chesney H Baker
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1929–88)
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| biography:
| Jazz trumpeter and singer, born in Yale, Oklahoma, USA. He played in US army bands (1946–52), then joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, and his brilliant interplay with Mulligan brought critical and popular success. As a leader, his signature tune became ‘My Funny Valentine’, which epitomized his image as a lonely, searching wanderer. His boyish good looks led to minor movie roles in the 1950s, but his erratic personal life made him a perpetual outsider. A full-length documentary film, Let's Get Lost (1987), shadowed him on his incessant round of European jazz clubs, with juxtaposed clips of his bright-eyed youth. He died in Amsterdam, purportedly by leaping from his hotel window, but suspicions remain that he was pushed. |
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