On May 13, 1988, at 3 a.m., Chet Baker died after falling from a window (actually a 40 cm opening) on the second floor of the Prins Hendrik Hotel, just 100 meters from the central station, practically in the heart of Amsterdam, a stone's throw from the legendary Zeedijk street, where in the '80s the “drug-fueled” and hallucinatory nightlife of the capital was centered.
The circumstances of his death are quite obscure from the very start.
At 3 in the morning, Chet flies out of the window "as if he had wings," landing on the concrete sidewalk, hitting his head, dying instantly, and there's no witness...
Thus departed Angel Face.
The face, the life, the body, the soul ravaged by drugs and the sadness of a solitary existence.
Three theories are posited: homicide, suicide, accident.
The first theory is the least plausible because in the room, locked from the inside, there are no signs of a struggle.
The second theory, that of suicide, could be supported by the severe depressive state that Chet Baker was experiencing at that last period, a soul pain that had pushed him to increase his heroin consumption.
But it’s not like Chet Baker to take his own life without leaving a message, a delirium, a trace, something that could in some way "explain."
The third theory remains the most plausible: after returning to his room, Chet injects heroin and shortly after feels unwell.
He leans out of the window for air, loses his balance, and falls.
So an accident, and this is the explanation preferred by investigators, even though falling out of a 40 cm opening isn’t so easy.
But a fourth theory, not even considered by the police because it’s chilling, reopens all reasoning: Chet died of an overdose in his room, probably wasn’t alone, someone who was with him called for help, and the hotel owner threw him out to avoid problems with the police.
A possible theory but lacking witnesses.
Chet Baker sang sorrow as only Billie Holiday could, and always without a dime to his name.
But he didn’t mind: "I will die broke - he prophesized - and it’s right, because that’s how I came into the world."
Outside the Prins Hendrik Hotel in Amsterdam, there’s a plaque that reads: "The trumpeter and singer Chet Baker died at this place on May 13, 1988. He will live on in his music for all those who wish to listen to and understand it."
His body is buried in Inglewood Cemetery, California.
(cit. Sitting on the dock of the bay²)
Chet Baker - Let's Get Lost Full Album