Deep in a Dream - by James Gavin (Paperback)

About the Book

Reprint, with minor corrections. Originally published: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.

Book Synopsis

This first major biography of the most romanticized icon in jazz thrillingly recounts his wild ride. From his emergence in the 1950s--when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared on the West Coast to become, 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. Here, drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously untapped sources, James Gavin gives a hair-raising account of the trumpeter's dark journey.

Review Quotes

"A landmark in entertainment biography." --Tony Gieske, Hollywood Reporter

"Almost unbearably vivid ... James Gavin has brought us as close as life to his subject." --David Hajdu, New York Times Book Review

"Cringingly fine ... a really scary story." --Kirkus Reviews

"Definitive ... a haunting prose poem that's every bit as affecting as one of Baker's solos." --Entertainment Weekly - "A" rating

"Gripping ... fascinating ... brings Baker's personality vividly to life ... resonates on a level far deeper than most biographies of musicians." --Carlo Wolff, Boston Globe

"Harrowing ... chilling." --Richard Sudhalter, Baltimore Sun

"Savagely honest ... impeccably researched, elegantly written." --Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle

"So thorough, gripping and well-written that once the pages start to turn, you're hooked ... a journalistic gem." --Jason Koransky, Down Beat

"Splendid, fascinatingly thorough ... a book that remains a page-turner long after it's obvious what's coming next." --K. Leander Williams, Time Out New York

"Superb ... unerring ... a stark, troubling portrait of both the artist and his times." --Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

James Gavin is the author of Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne and Intimate Nights: The Golden Age of New York Cabaret. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time Out New York, and the Huffington Post.