If you have always wanted to improve your trumpet playing especially upper register and high notes, please CLICK HERE or call Kurt Thompson, Professional Trumpeter and Specialist in Teaching trumpet lessons in a private setting or anywhere in the world via Skype or Phone: 415-832-9789
A Trumpeter is different than many musicians!
For example, imagine a piano player. He/She looks at their music and finds a bunch of fast moving high notes. Is this piano player worried? Of course not. All the notes, low notes, middle notes, and high notes, and even very extreme high notes are just a finger tip away.
Contrast this with Playing Trumpet! The higher you go on the trumpet, the increase in energy demand! You don't just press down a valve or button and the Double C pops out!
The high note or upper register appears almost in the same way an extremely heavy weight is lifted....exertion, strength, and focus
CHET BAKER (above) demonstrates cool and chill jazz on trumpet...bursting with style and mood! It is very hard to resist listening to and liking CHET BAKER.
Notes from Wikipedia:
Chet Baker, Trumpeter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chet Baker
Chet Baker, 1983.
Background information
Birth name Chesney Henry Baker, Jr.
Born December 23, 1929
Yale, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died May 13, 1988 (aged 58)
Amsterdam, Netherlands
GenresWest Coast Jazz
Occupations Trumpeter
Jazz singer
Instruments Trumpet
Vocals
Flugelhorn
Piano[1]
Years active 1949–1988[2]
Associated actsGerry Mulligan
Art Pepper
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer. Though his music earned him a large following (particularly albums featuring his vocals, such as Chet Baker Sings), Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."[3] He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[4]
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early days
1.2 Career breakthrough
1.3 Drug addiction and decline
1.4 Comeback and later career
2 Death
3 Legacy
4 Honors
5 Discography
6 References
7 External links
]Biography
Early days
Baker was born and raised in a musical household in Yale, Oklahoma; his father was a professional guitar player. Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced with a trumpet when the trombone proved too large.
Baker received some musical education at Glendale Junior High School, but left school at age 16 in 1946 to join the United States Army. He was posted to Berlin where he joined the 298th Army band. Leaving the army in 1948, he studied theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. He dropped out in his second year, however, re-enlisting in the army in 1950. Baker became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco, but was soon spending time in San Francisco jazz clubs such as Bop City and the Black Hawk. Baker once again obtained a discharge from the army to pursue a career as a professional musician.
Career breakthrough
Baker's earliest notable professional gigs were with saxophonist Vido Musso's band, and also with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, though he earned much more renown in 1951 when he was chosen by Charlie Parker to play with him for a series of West Coast engagements.[5]
In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Several things made the Mulligan/Baker group special, the most prominent being the interplay between Mulligan's baritone sax and Baker's trumpet. Rather than playing identical melody lines in unison like bebop giants Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the two would complement each other's playing with contrapuntal touches, and it often seemed as if they had telepathy in anticipating what the other was going to play next. The Quartet's version of "My Funny Valentine", featuring a memorable Baker solo, was a major hit, and became a song with which Baker was intimately associated.
The Quartet found success quickly, but lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest and imprisonment on drug charges. In 1953, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings, a record that increased his profile but alienated traditional jazz fans; he would continue to sing throughout his career. Baker formed quartets with Russ Freeman in 1953-54 with bassists Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, and Jimmy Bond and drummers Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, and Bob Neel. The quartet was successful in their three live sets in 1954. In that year, Baker won the Downbeat Jazz Poll. Because of his chiseled features, Hollywood studios approached Baker and he made his acting debut in the film Hell's Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. He declined an offer of a studio contract, preferring life on the road as a musician. Over the next few years, Baker fronted his own combos, including a 1955 quintet featuring Francy Boland, where Baker combined playing trumpet and singing. He became an icon of the West Coast "cool school" of jazz, helped by his good looks and singing talent. Baker's 1956 recording, released for the first time in its entirety in 1989 as The Route, with Art Pepper helped further the West Coast jazz sound and became a staple of cool jazz.
Drug addiction and decline
Baker was a heroin user from the 1950s for the remainder of his life, and eventually saw his musical career decline as a result. At times, Baker pawned his instruments for money to maintain his drug habit. In the early 1960s, he served more than a year in prison in Italy on drug charges; he was later expelled from both West Germany and the UK for drug-related offenses. Baker was eventually deported from West Germany to the United States after running afoul of the law there a second time. He settled in Milpitas in northern California where he played in San Jose and San Francisco between short jail terms served for prescription fraud.[4]
In 1966, Baker was savagely beaten (allegedly while attempting to buy drugs) after a gig in San Francisco, sustaining severe cuts on the lips and broken front teeth, which ruined his embouchure. He stated in the film Let's Get Lost that an acquaintance attempted to rob him one night but backed off, only to return the next night with a group of several men who chased him. He landed finally in a car where he was surrounded. Instead of rescuing him, the people inside the car pushed him back out onto the street where the chase by his attackers continued, and subsequently, he was beaten to the point that his teeth, never in good condition to begin with, were knocked out, leaving him without the ability to play his horn. He took odd jobs, among them pumping gas. Meanwhile he was fitted for dentures and worked on his embouchure. Three months later he got a gig in New York.
Between 1966 and 1974, Baker mostly played flugelhorn and recorded music that could mostly be classified as West Coast Jazz.[4]
Comeback and later career
After developing a new embouchure resulting from dentures, Baker returned to the straight-ahead jazz that began his career, relocating to New York City and began performing and recording again, notably with guitarist Jim Hall. Later in the seventies, Baker returned to Europe where he was assisted by his friend Diane Vavra, who took care of his personal needs and otherwise helped him during his recording and performance dates.
From 1978 until his death, Baker resided and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the USA roughly once per year for a few performance dates. Baker's most prolific era as a recording artist was 1978-88. However, as his extensive output is strewn across numerous, mostly small European labels, none of these recordings ever reached a wider audience, even though many of them were well-received by critics, who maintain that the period was one of Baker's most mature and rewarding. Of particular importance are Baker's quartet featuring the pianist Phil Markowitz (1978–80) and his trio with guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (1983–85). He also toured with saxophonist Stan Getz during this period.
In 1983, British singer Elvis Costello, a longtime fan of Baker, hired the trumpeter to play a solo on his song "Shipbuilding", from the album Punch the Clock. The song was a top 40 hit in the UK, and exposed Baker's music to a new audience. Later, Baker often featured Costello's song "Almost Blue" (inspired by Baker's version of "The Thrill Is Gone") in his live sets, and recorded the song on Let's Get Lost, a documentary film about his life.
The video material recorded by Japanese television during Baker's 1987 tour in Japan showed a man whose face looked much older than he was; but his trumpet playing was alert, lively and inspired. Fans and critics alike agree that the live album Chet Baker in Tokyo, recorded less than a year before his death and released posthumously, ranks among Baker's very best. "Silent Nights", another critically acclaimed release, and Baker's only recording of Christmas music, was recorded with Christopher Mason in New Orleans in 1986 and released in 1987.
Chet Baker's compositions included "Chetty's Lullaby", "Freeway", "Early Morning Mood", "Two a Day", "So Che Ti Perderò" ("I Know I Will Lose You"), "Il Mio Domani" ("My Tomorrow"), "Motivo Su Raggio Di Luna" ("Tune on a Moon Beam"), "The Route", "Skidadidlin'", "New Morning Blues", "Blue Gilles", "Dessert", and "Anticipated Blues".
Death
At about 3:00 am on May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on Prins Hendrikkade, near Zeedijk, on the street below his second-story room (Room 210) of Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with serious wounds to his head. Heroin and cocaine were found in his hotel room, and an autopsy also found these drugs in his body. There was no evidence of a struggle, and the death was ruled an accident.
Baker's body was brought home for interment in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. A plaque outside the Hotel Prins Hendrik now memorializes him.
Legacy
Plaque in Amsterdam
Jeroen de Valk has written a biography of Baker which is available in several languages: Chet Baker: His Life and Music is the English translation, Chet Baker: Herinneringen aan een lyrisch trompettist (remembrances of a lyrical trumpet player) is the Dutch edition (updated and expanded in 2007),[6] and it is also published in Japan and Germany. James Gavin has also written a biography: Deep In A Dream — The Long Night of Chet Baker. Baker's "lost memoirs" are available in the book As Though I Had Wings, which includes an introduction by Carol Baker.[4]
Baker was immortalized by the photographer William Claxton in his book Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker. An Academy Award-nominated 1988 documentary about Baker, Let's Get Lost, portrays him as a cultural icon of the 1950s, but juxtaposes this with his later image as a drug addict. The film, directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, was shot in black-and-white and includes a series of interviews with friends, family (including his three children by third wife Carol Baker), associates and women friends, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life, and with interviews with Baker from his last years.
Time after Time: The Chet Baker Project, written by playwright James O'Reilly, toured Canada in 2001 to much acclaim.[7] The musical play Chet Baker - Speedball, explores aspects of his life and music, and was premiered in London at the Oval House Theatre in February 2007, with further development of the script and performances leading to its revival at the 606 Club in the London Jazz Festival of November 2007.
Baker was reportedly the inspiration for the character Chad Bixby, played by Robert Wagner in the 1960 film All the Fine Young Cannibals. Another film, to be titled Prince of Cool, about Baker's life, was cancelled as of January 2008.[8]
Honors
In 1987 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
In 1989 he was elected to Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame by that magazine's Critics Poll.
In 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.
In 2005 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimed July 2 as “Chet Baker Day”.
Other Notable Trumpeters:
Vitin Paz
Bill Adam
Maurice André
Ryan Anthony
Ole Edvard Antonsen
Jean Baptiste Arban
Sir Malcolm Arnold
Alison Balsom
Marco Blaauw
Edward Carroll
Herbert L. Clarke
Kevin Cobb
Kristjón Daðason
Allan Dean
Timofei Dokschitzer
Niklas Eklund
Dennis Ferry
Merri Franquin
Thomas Gansch
Armando Ghitalla
Claude Gordon
Ludwig Guttler
Håkan Hardenberger
Adolph "Bud" Herseth
David Hickman
Matthias Höfs
Harry James
Christopher Jones
Philip Jones
Frank Kaderabek
Richard Kelley
Uwe Köller
Marcel LaFosse
Manny Laureano
Jens Lindemann
Jessica Long
John MacMurray
Christopher Martin
Malcolm McNab
Rodney Mack
Georges Mager
Albert Mancini
Veniamin Margolin
Wynton Marsalis
Mauro Maur
Rafael Mendez
John Miller
Ennio Morricone
Maurice Murphy
Sergei Nakariakov
John Rommel
Michael Sachs
Adolf Scherbaum
Charles Schlueter
Gerard Schwarz
Jeffrey Segal
Philip Smith
Nick Smith
Marie Speziale
Thomas Stevens
Markus Stockhausen
Robert Sullivan
Edward Tarr
Guy Touvron
William Vacchiano
Allen Vizzutti
René Voisin
Roger Voisin
John Wallace
Roger Webster
James R. West
Anton Weidinger
Greg London
[edit]Jazz and commercial players
Greg Adams
Nat Adderley (1931-2000)
Red Allen (1906-1967)
Herb Alpert (b. 1935)
William "Cat" Anderson (1916-1981)
Harry James Angus (b. 1982)
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Chet Baker (1929-1988)
Michael "Flea" Balzary
Brandon Barnes
Guy Barker
Bix Beiderbecke
Wayne Bergeron
Bunny Berigan
Terence Blanchard
Buddy Bolden
Jean-Claude Borelly
Chris Botti
Lester Bowie
Rick Braun
Randy Brecker
Till Brönner
Ray Brown
Miroslav Bukovsky
Billy Butterfield
Donald Byrd
John Carisi
Ian Carr
Benny Carter
Bill Chase
Doc Cheatham
Don Cherry
John Christianson
Buck Clayton
Gracie Cole
George "Kid Sheik" Cola
Bill Coleman
Zach Condon
Alex Cross
Ted Curson
Dick Cuthell
Wallace Davenport
Miles Davis
Kenny Dorham
Phil Driscoll
Dave Douglas
Johnny Dunn
Jon Eardley
Harry "Sweets" Edison
Roy Eldridge
Don Ellis
Ziggy Elman
Howard Evans
Jon Faddis
Art Farmer
Maynard Ferguson
Tony Fruscella
Chuck Findley
John "Dizzy" Gillespie
Clifford Brown
George Girard
Volker Goetze
Jerry Gonzalez
Dusko Goykovich
Conrad Gozzo
Bobby Hackett
Tim Hagans
Roy Hargrove
Michael Harris
Tom Harrell
Jon Hassell
El Hefe
Dana Heitman
Johnny Helms
Arve Henriksen
Al Hirt
Arnett Howard
Freddie Hubbard
Jeff Hughes
Roger Ingram
Don Jacoby
Harry James
Ingrid Jensen
Bunk Johnson
Jonah Jones
Sean Jones
Thad Jones
Freddie Keppard
Manny Klein
Scott Klopfenstein
Tommy Ladnier
Yank Lawson
Booker Little
Lee Loughnane
Brian Lynch
Michael Lyman
Wingy Manone
Chuck Mangione
Wynton Marsalis
Hugh Masekela
Jesse McGuire
Mickey McMahan
Rafael Méndez
Bubber Miley
Punch Miller
Blue Mitchell
Lee Morgan
Bobby Hackett
James Morrison
Fats Navarro
Red Nichols
Joe "King" Oliver
Jeff Oster
Kye Palmer
Nicholas Payton
Mark Pender
Marvin Peterson
Herb Pomeroy
Louis Prima
Gerard Presencer
Yoshimi P-We
Dizzy Reece
Cynthia Robinson
Claudio Roditi
Lior Ron
Wallace Roney
Rashawn Ross
Alan Rubin
Kermit Ruffins
Chase Sanborn
Arturo Sandoval
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen
Manfred Schoof
Charlie Shavers
Woody Shaw
Bobby Shew
Jabbo Smith
Wadada Leo Smith
Lew Soloff
Muggsy Spanier
Terell Stafford
Tomasz Stanko
Rex Stewart
Tony Terran
Clark Terry
Kurt Thompson
Andrea Tofanelli
Charles Tolliver
Erik Truffaz
Cuong Vu
Kid Thomas Valentine
Allen Vizzutti
Derek Watkins
Tavis Werts
Kenny Wheeler
Pharez Whitted
Cootie Williams
Johnny Zell
Seth Housley
Jaicee Larson