Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker - Hardcover

Gavin, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679442871 ISBN 13: 9780679442875

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2002

Synopsis

From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared on the West Coast to become, 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. Now, drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously untapped sources, James Gavin gives a hair-raising account of the trumpeter's dark journey.
The story of Baker's demise - a heretofore unsolved riddle - is revealed here at last. So is the truth behind his tormented childhood, the pain of which haunted his entire life. Gavin explores the birth of the melancholy trumpet playing, the fragile tenor voice, and the otherworldly personal aura that catapulted Baker to fame. Sexy, angelic, needy, and forbidding all at once, Baker became known as the James Dean of jazz. Like Dean, he struck a note of menace in the staid fifties: behind his ultracool, handsome facade lay something ominous, unspoken. The mystery drove both sexes crazy. But his only real romance, apart from music, was with drugs. And in mesmerizing detail, Gavin narrates the harrowing spiral of dependency down which Baker tumbled, dragging with him those who dared get close.

About this title

Review:

"Definitive ... a haunting prose poem that's every bit as affecting as one of Baker's solos." --"Entertainment Weekly" - "A" rating

"Savagely honest ... impeccably researched, elegantly written." --Joel Selvin, "San Francisco Chronicle"

"Harrowing ... chilling." --Richard Sudhalter, "Baltimore Sun"

"So thorough, gripping and well-written that once the pages start to turn, you're hooked ... a journalistic gem." --Jason Koransky, "Down Beat"
"Superb ... unerring ... a stark, troubling portrait of both the artist and his times." --"Publisher's Weekly"

"Splendid, fascinatingly thorough ... a book that remains a page-turner long after it's obvious what's coming next." --K. Leander Williams, "Time Out New York"
"A landmark in entertainment biography." --Tony Gieske, "Hollywood Reporter"
"Cringingly fine ... a really scary story." --"Kirkus Reviews"

Definitive a haunting prose poem that s every bit as affecting as one of Baker s solos. "Entertainment Weekly" A rating"

Superb unerring a stark, troubling portrait of both the artist and his times. "Publisher s Weekly""

From the Publisher:

The wild ride of the most romanticized icon in jazz, thrillingly recounted in this first major biography.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0679442871
• ISBN 13: 9780679442875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 430