James Gavin

Much of Baker's work was unique and remains haunting. All the more haunting after reading this book

It reads like true life... Gavin is very good

Detailed... Critically assured and never allows the cool of the icon to occlude the venality of the individual

Baker's impact lives on even now - sexy, angelic, needy, icy and enigmatic... Gavin's book captures Baker's journey from the golden promise of his youth to his seedy end in Amsterdam in mesmerising detail

Deep in a Dream is a black comedy of bad behaviour, outstanding even by the standards of artists in general and jazz musicians in particular

The Long Night of Chet Baker

From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared in the West Coast and became, seemingly overnight, the prince of 'cool' jazz - until his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth. At once sexy and forbidding, the so-called 'James Dean of Jazz' struck a note of menace in the staid fifties. 
 
In this first major biography, the story of Baker's demise is finally revealed. So is the truth behind his tormented childhood. Behind Baker's icy façade lay something ominous, unspoken. The mystery drove both sexes crazy. But his only real romance, apart from music, was with drugs. Gavin brilliantly recreates the life of a man whose journey from golden promise to eventual destruction mirrored America's fall from post-war innocence - but whose music has never lost the power to enchant and seduce us.

Deep In A Dream

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James Gavin

Praise for Deep In A Dream

Much of Baker's work was unique and remains haunting. All the more haunting after reading this book

Detailed and perceptive

It reads like true life... Gavin is very good

Much of Baker's work was unique and remains haunting. All the more haunting after reading this book

Detailed and perceptive

It reads like true life... Gavin is very good

Much of Baker's work was unique and remains haunting. All the more haunting after reading this book

Detailed and perceptive

It reads like true life... Gavin is very good

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