Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker

Rating:
Summary: The Chet Baker Study...
Review: A tortured soul, living a hell in a wasteland, howling and desolate, junked up, paranoid, insecure, with the one goal most if not every junky ascribes to...getting the next dose. Did you ever wonder what makes people like the Baker or the Charley Parker , Kurt Cobain or Bix Beiderbeck reach down to the bottom when they have so much to offer. Jaco Pastorius too and Jerry Garcia could have also been lumped into this terrible category. Yet, we as humans are fascinated by this lifestyle and glamorize the "stars" and talents. But do those same people find their life glamorous? Or, are a few of those stars and talents incomplete, seeking, never satisfied, bored, living on some sort of edge which leads them into a self destructive lifestyle. I've read a number of books about musicians who have self-destructed, perhaps I hold a perverse fascination with the phenomena and I can't explain why. As a musician for over 40 years I have always admired the musicianship of the greats like Beiderbeck or Getz or Baker or Pepper, Pastorius and many more, but could never understand the penchant for killing themselves through extreme substance abuse. What were they missing in life, which left them so unfulfilled?

Rating:
Summary: Burying the dead
Review: According to Gavin's particular gathering of facts, Chet Baker never made an album that could not be dismissed. Baker's music will endure long after this bio is out of print. I have to give the author high marks for his research effort, but the mountain of detail he compiled for the book seems to have had only one purpose: to bury Baker one more time.

Rating:
Summary: Well written but not enough about the music:
Review: Deep in a Dream is a thoroughly researched and well written biography of Chet Baker. Baker was a one of the leading stars of West Coast jazz in the 50's and early 60's, and as he played trumpet, was at times held up as a white version of Miles Davis. This comparison was unfortunate; although gifted with a natural talent, Baker never matured into a major figure like Davis, and the one time they played on the same bill, Davis's group blew them away. Baker was also blessed with model-like looks (although by the time he died, he looked like a walking corpse), and often sang in an androgynous, subdued voice that many people found very moving. (Matt Damon imitates this in the Ripley movie, where he sings a Baker standard, My Funny Valentine, in the style of Baker.) Unfotunately, as this book documents thoroughly, Baker was a heroin addict for most of his adult life, and cared much more about getting drugs than anything else. Not surprisingly, this led to a downward spiral in his career. By the early 1960s he was getting bad reviews in the US, and relocated to Europe, leaving his family behind. He toured widely there, and became something of a cult figure.

Baker's life does not make for pleasant reading. He used people whenever he could, paid no attention to his children (other than to steal his son's trumpet on a rare visit home), and recorded primarily to get money to fund his drug habits. Since he always needed money right away, he usually signed away royalties in return for an advance. This left him perpetually broke. Eventually he died under mysterious circumstances (probably suicide) in Holland.

James Gavin has talked to just about everybody that had contact with Baker, as well as researching reviews of his performances and records. Gavin is clearly taken with Baker's music but does not hesitate to repeat the sometimes vitriolic reviews Baker received. As depressing as Baker's life is, Gavin has not written a slash and burn biography designed to show his subject as an awful person. His judgments seem quite fair. However, I would have liked more discussion of Baker's music -- what made his playing and singing popular even today. There is some discussion of this but not enough to convey why we should care about Baker as an artist. This book makes an interesting contrast with two biographies of Baker's contemporary Bill Evans (My Foolish Heart and Everything Happens to Me), who may have been as big a drug user, but whose biographies mention his drug use in passing and concentrate almost entirely on the music. The Evans's biographies probably go too far in neglecting his messy life, but they still do a good job of showing why Evans is still an important figure today.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine anyone writing a biography of Baker as good as this one, and this is certainly the book to read if you want to know more about Chet Baker. There is also a tie-in CD, with the tracks selected by the author, that is an excellent introduction to Baker's music.

Rating:
Summary: A Long Night, Indeed
Review: James Gavin does execellent work in detailing Chet Baker's rise to fame and fortune and ultimate fall. The story itself is amazing -- Baker, born with good looks and a natural musical ability, squanders it all away because of drugs.
Interesting to read about Baker's various relationships, both in an out of the industry, including his working relationship with Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz. Gavin also does a good job detailing how Baker insecurities made him lean more and more on drugs, and how drugs ultimately ruined his career and life.
As the story unfolds we see how Baker became more and more reliant on drugs, doing anything to get a fix. A very scary story, and one that is told well by Gavin.
Baker's musical legacy has been debated by the experts for many years. Charlie Parker, after hearing him on the West Coast, raved about his talents. Certainly Baker deserves a place in the history of jazz, and, if you're a fan of jazz, Gavin's biography of him is well worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: For musicians and non-musicians alike
Review: My wife and I finished "Deep in a Dream" this month and found it extremely insightful and engaging. As a musician, I was fascinated to learn the extent to which Chet's talent was unschooled; and my wife, who is a non-musician but a big Chet fan, was struck by the contrast between Chet's life and his art. Some of the stories, like the Italian trial and the pharmacy arson, made me shake my head in disbelief.

Rating:
Summary: Pityfull mr.gavin .
Review: Ooooooo, mr.gavin, if you can reach 1/10000000000000000000, glory and popularity, and geniousity, of Mr. CHET BAKER.

Better listen Chet`s, music and be quiet please!!

Rating:
Summary: Living Drama.
Review: They say that the key element in engrossing drama is a main character with a tragic flaw. Chet Baker, it seems, had that - his inability (or lack of motivation) to care about anything (including consequences). At least, that seems to be Mr. Gavin's take in this gripping and unfinching tale of jazz trumpeter turned ravenous junkie, Chet Baker. From his early days that saw an overly doting mother to the many loves in Baker's life that played more the role of a mom than a lover, Chet Baker is portrayed (probably correctly) as a wrecklessly detached, yet childlike, soul all too content to drift through life letting others clean up increasingly heinous messes.

As other reviewers have noted, this book is not a pretty read. For me, I recall many evenings where I couldn't pry myself away from these pages, yet hardly "wanted" to continue reading. (The former emotion always won out!) We see a junkie, an egocentrist, a master trumpeter, an inveterate manipulator, and - somehow - even a childlike innocent who we never cease, in some way, to feel at least some compassion for (and in some sense, that was part of Baker's ease of manipulation). And Mr. Gavin's well-written biography gives us a front row seat to it all!

Now, I've never been one to assume that in order to 'understand' a musician, one does best to know their history. But it is hard for me to imagine that I will ever be able to listen to one of Baker's glossy ballads in exactly the same way again, now knowing about the torturous life that his notes belie. And if you are a Baker fan (I have to imagine that if you are here, you are) no doubt the book will do the same to you.

To close, I must reiterate that this is a wildly engrossing book that reads as much like fiction as a biography can. Baker's life, of course, is as intriguing and multidiminsional as any novelist could write. James Gavin obviously did his homework (as at very least evidenced by the huge list of sources and notes). Though certainly not for the faint of heart, Gavin's book should be a valuable addition to any fan's library.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps a more extended dream than we think.
Review: This is a tough book to get through, but thanks to James Gavin's journalistic skills it becomes almost impossible to put down. Chet Baker's personal life was a mess from start to finish and the author manages to keep us riveted despite the relentless feeling of gloom from one chapter to the next. To sympathize or not with the hero's trials & tribulations is something that each of us has to come to terms with. However, before we assign anyone a God-like status as an artist it would be prudent to separate his musical and personal attributes. Separating these aspects of the life of a performer or composer becomes even more important when viewing it from a distance, in this case anywhere from 20 to 40 years, depending on what one considers his prime playing years.

Baker was a decent trumpet player in his day. Every now & then he climbed a level or two and managed to raise some eyebrows. However to put him among the trumpet giants of his era - Dizzy, Miles, Clark Terry, Clifford Brown, etc. - is not only a huge stretch, but also a disservice to these great artists. Any well-traveled musician will tell you that there are (jazz) musicians all over the world, but especially in this country, who are generally unknown to the listening public, who can knock you out with their playing at any given time. The reasons why the public isn't aware of them can be anywhere from personal situations in their lives, simply not caring and just wanting to stay in their own towns eking out a living, not having been "blessed" by critics, or a myriad of other reasons - musical or non - that keep them out of the lime light. Baker was no better than scores of these players. If he had remained reasonably straight it's possible that his music making might have continued on an upward arc. The myth that we'll somehow play among the gods when we're stoned has been so over-romanticized by writers and critics for so long that many musicians - mostly in Rock these days - still believe it. The truth of THAT matter is that when one of the guys is heavily spaced-out, whether from alcohol or harder stuff it becomes a huge drag for the rest of the band. If more than one is flying it's usually leads to disaster.

The other problem I have with the book is that the author occasionally falls into that same predictable trap as many other jazz critics and writers. It seems that (the great) jazz players (improvisers) must somehow move us to the heights of ecstasy without actually knowing how to play their horns. Technique is of course regarded with the usual suspicion. In his description of (Stan) Getz's "icy-smooth perfection of his youth," we get that hackneyed attitude possessed by many that distrusts the players with chops. To this I can only say; Hey guys, this improvising "art" is about putting it ALL together. Yes, there are certainly many instances of some (technically) well-endowed player fitting thousands of notes, all perfectly in tune, onto the head of a pin, with result being a big, collective yawn. And there are also times when someone might come up with a solo that is riddled with clams and/or slightly (or grossly) out of tune, but will transport a whole lot of people to the twilight zone. But, in reality there are precious few of the latter that we have the luxury of going back (via a recording) to scrutinize. To his credit Gavin does not harp on these fixations unduly. In fact he does point out rather thoroughly Baker's constant intonation problems in his singing, which I might add, was a constant source of joking among musicians.

Despite these qualms I would recommend this book to anyone interested not only in Chet Baker's self-destruct mechanism, but also in having an intriguing look at the mind-set of much of the jazz world of the 50s & 60s.

Rating:
Summary: A musical narcissist
Review: This is an excellent book on Chet Baker--I found it very interesting and a very engaging read.

I feel Mr. Gavin does an incredible job balancing the musical career and personal life of Chet, extensively discussing both his meteoric rise--and his quick descent into the hell of heroin addiction.

The mystique of Chet Baker and public is well addressed, and ties in very well with how he used his talent, fame, looks and charm to personally exploit almost every person he ever came in contact with. This book is an excellent case study of the narcissist--and the numerous victims these people leave in their wake. It really makes you feel sorry for the women and children he left behind--individuals who will be forever scarred by their relationship with this man. Unfortunately their is a stark contrast between his musical and personal legacy. No one who came in contact with this Chet came away unscathed. The huge gap between the public image of the angelic-looking trumpetist--and the evil reality of this man--speaks to the power of his magnetism and muscial talent.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK!
Review: WOW-i literally JUST finished the book. Just now read the last page. WOW-what a book. phenomenal documentation of Bakers life. I couldnt have imagined what Chet went through and the life he lived. the people around him, the musicians, his family, this book has it ALL! A DEFINATE buy if youre a jazz fan of any kind! 5 Star Book!!