20 years ago today - Chet Baker Died

[White Lightning]

At about 3:00 am on Friday May 13, 1988, Chet Baker was found dead on a street below his room at the Prins Hendrik Hotel in Amsterdam. He was 58 years old.

What's your One album by Chet that you'll spin today in his honour?

[BillF]

Chet Baker Quartet with Russ Freeman on Pacific Jazz 55453. Plays beautifully on that one! I'll also take a look through Deep in a Dream: the Long Night of Chet Baker, one of the most readable pieces of jazz literature.

[BruceH]

Boy, he sure looked a fright towards the end...a walking advertisement against drug use.

[BeBop]

I saw him (not playing) in California just a few weeks before... It was a conversation that left me truly speechless - to hear about his then-current life. Chet, I hope you're in a happier place now.

[GA Russell]

I remember well reading about it for the first time the following Friday, a week later, in the obit column of USA Today.

I'll play Vol. 1 of Chet in Paris.

[jazzbo]

I played the Quartet with Freeman.

[Late]

One of my favorites.

The first time I watched Let's Get Lost, it was the anniversary of Chet's death — May 13, 1992. I didn't even know, at the time, that he'd died on that day. I was just getting into Chet and had three of his albums.

[Jazzmoose]

I'm going to hock my trumpet.