was an outstanding American jazz trumpeter, flugel hornist and a vocalist who gained fame during the early fifties. Though he was a talented performer, his talent and life was destroyed by the evil of drugs. .
Chet Baker was born on December 23, 1929 on a farm on the outskirts of Yale, Oklahoma. Later, shifted to Los Angeles with his parents at the age of 10. Baker, who was privileged with a musical family background enters the musical world when he was a kid. He marks his entrance to the world of music by joining the church choir team. He was introduced to playing trombone by his father who himself was a professional guitar player. Not to mention that his mother was also a very talented pianist. At the age of 13, Baker makes a significant mark in his musical career by replacing the trombone with a trumpet due to the fact that the trombone being huge. .
Even though Baker received musical education at Glendale Junior High School, he left school at the age of 16 to join the United States Army where and joined the army band. In his transition period, he left the army in 1948 and attended El Camino College in Los Angeles where he studied theory and harmony. But he was dropped out again and joined the army again in 1950. The he became a member of the sixth army band at the Presidio in San Francisco. At this point in his life Baker was into Jazz music. He became a huge fan of Miles Davis and soon he was into the popular jazz clubs in the city of San Francisco. .
Afterwards, he had a major breakthrough in his career when he was chosen by one of the great saxophonist, Charlie Parker in 1952 to perform in a series of West Coast engagements. In the same year he joined Mulligan's pianoless quartet. The duo gained early success due to some high quality performances such as "Walkin' Shoes," "Bernie's Tune" and "My Funny Valentine," . One major reason for their early success was the dynamic combination that they had.