Chet Baker

📍Yale, OK 74085, USA

“I was born Chesney Henry Baker Jr. in December 1929 in Yale, a small oil and farming town in Payne County, Oklahoma, the son of Chesney Sr., a guitarist who played in Western swing and hillbilly bands on stage and radio, and Vera, a pianist who worked in a perfume factory. I was born just as the Depression began, and my father, though he was talented, had to give up music and take a regular job to support us. Yale was where my family's roots were. Music was always in our house. My father loved Jack Teagarden, and he gave me a trombone, but it was too big for me. I sang in church and in amateur contests, with a sweet, soft voice. In 1940, when I was ten, we moved to Glendale, California, looking for work, and at about thirteen I switched to the trumpet, which I fell in love with; within two weeks I was playing well. I learned mostly by ear, and I had a natural gift for melody that never left me. At sixteen I joined the army and played in the band in Berlin, and back in Los Angeles I played with Charlie Parker in 1952 and with Gerry Mulligan's piano-less quartet, recording My Funny Valentine. My cool, lyrical trumpet and fragile singing made me a star of West Coast jazz, and I spent much of my later life in Europe. Yale, Oklahoma, remembers me as its most famous son, and the Oklahoma Music Trail honours me.”

Sources: travelok.com jazz.com Wikipedia: Chet Baker