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

From his emergence in the 1950s as an uncannily beautiful young Oklahoman who became the prince of "cool" jazz seemingly overnight to his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously untapped sources, this first major biography of one of the most romanticized icons in jazz gives a thrilling account of the trumpeter's dark journey. Author James Gavin delves deeply into Baker's tormented childhood, the origins of his melancholic trumpet playing, and even reveals the long-unsolved riddle of Baker's demise. Baker's otherworldly personal aura struck a note of menace and mystery that catapulted him to fame in the staid 1950s but as time wore on, his romance with drugs became highly publicized. Gavin narrates the harrowing spiral of dependency down which Baker tumbled and illustrates how those who dared to get close were dragged down with him. This is the portrait of a musician whose singular artistry and mystique has never lost the power to enchant and seduce.

Review Quotes

"A black comedy of bad behaviour . . . pure Joe Orton . . . [written] with a diligence and insight with which not even the most puritanical jazz purist could find fault."

--Kenneth Wright "Sunday Herald (UK)"

"A hair-raising account ... it should attract anyone interested in a cautionary tale well-told."

--Greg Delaney "Independent"

"A hair-raising, chilling, and always fascinating look at a tortured musician who became an American myth ... Gavin has delivered a masterful look at him."

--Terry Perkins "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"

"A landmark in entertainment biography."

--Tony Gieske "Hollywood Reporter"

"A monumental and informed biography . . . told by Gavin in the finest detail."

--Ernesto Assante "La Repubblica"

"A monumental biography . . . a story reconstructed with precision and accuracy . . . writing with a fluidity of style that lies halfway between a novel and journalistic investigation."

--Helmut Failoni "Il Manifesto"

"A pitch-perfect, informed and engrossing character and cultural study . . . Gavin deserves a curtain call."

--Alan Bisbort "Hartford Advocate"

"Almost unbearably vivid ... James Gavin has brought us as close as life to his subject."

--David Hajdu "New York Times Book Review"

"An extraordinary and monumental biography."

--Mirella Seni "La Stampa"

"Chet Baker's story is a harrowing, twisted fairytale of music and mayhem, and James Gavin reveals its terrors and triumphs superbly."

--Andrew Vine "Yorkshire Post"

"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"

"First-rate . . . Scrupulous to the end . . . [Gavin] coolly documents the man, his art, and the mysterious and powerful hold both still have on jazz fans and what might be called students of American celebrity culture."

--William Corbett "Boston Phoenix"

"Free of moralizing or empty musicology--yet without forsaking careful, parsimonious stylistic analysis--Gavin's book is an act of artistic love and intellectual honesty, written with the fluency and drama of a novel."

--Paolo Russo "La Repubblica"

"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"

"I honor the patience, the method, and the fidelity of James Gavin's book."

--David Thomson "New Republic"

"Potent . . . A well-written and balanced biography . . . Gavin transcends the clip-job form biographies often take."

--Howard Cohen "New Herald (Miami)"

"Riveting . . . abounds in useful insights."

--Peter Vacher "Coda"

"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"

"The best possible introduction to Chet Baker, that American tragedy."

--Amiri Abaki "Valor (Brazil)"

"The most well-rounded, clear-eyed portrait of the trumpeter ever put to paper ... the definitive bio of Baker."

--Christopher Porter "JazzTimes"

"The Baker presence emerges vividly from James Gavin's new, painstakingly documented biography."

-- "Rockford Register Star"

"Thorough and compulsively readable."

--Jack Batten "Toronto Star"

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.