Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker

by William Claxton

Book Overview

Chet Baker was twenty-one when Charlie Parker discovered him and introduced him to such stars as Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan. It was the beginning of a meteoric rise to fame. Within a year, his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 382389966X
• ISBN13: 9783823899662
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Te Neues Publishing Company
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Claxton saw something happening & knew what it was

It was William Claxton's great privilege to have known & photographed Chet Baker during the mid-Fifties. Baker was a handsome, photogenic young man, a rising jazz star whose cool vocal interpretations of standards were winning him a large, mostly female audience outside of jazz. These beautiful black & white photographs, both casual & posed, capture a cultural era as surely as do the films of James Dean, the recordings of Elvis Presley & the writings of Jack Kerouac. We often think of the Eisenhower years as a bland era in the United States, but this talented proto-punk musician was working nearer the fringes in an atmosphere of creative ferment. Claxton saw it happening & knew what was going on. Lovely book for Baker's fans & for those who appreciate fine portraits. Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM