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Rating: An anonymous yet special afternoon: a lazy afternoon break, not boring though, with a discreet and comfortable sun coming through the window, with a pleasant temperature, elements to indulge in like in a drowsy and intoxicating state of abandonment. Lying in bed, I hear my phone alerting me of a text message: "hi, what are you doing?", "I was lying in bed, reading a bit...", "what were you reading?", "a book that arrived this morning about Chet Baker. Do you know him?", "no...", "he was an American Jazz trumpeter, a handsome and damned, a sort of James Dean of Jazz who died tragically about twenty years ago. I'm very fascinated by stories that link artists to their lives and art. Then it talks about his Italian affairs, a country dear to him, so there's another reason...", "ah, interesting...". I actually sensed from her "ah, interesting..." that to her it wasn't interesting at all, so I hurried to change the topic, with Chet's good understanding...
This little book (Stampa Alternativa, 69 pages, 7.75 euros) leads the reader through a kind of maze of human and artistic impressions, whose goal, thanks to the testimonies collected over the years among various characters (musicians and otherwise) who shared various Italian seasons with him, is to outline a profile of Chet Baker: one of the damnably fascinating figures in all of Jazz history. Trying to decipher a personality as contradictory as Chet Baker's is a nearly impossible task; indeed, from the portraits that emerge, many of Chet's human contradictions come to light, mainly due to the indiscretions caused by drug problems. Every character has their say, traces a profile, based on their direct experience with Chet and also on their own personality in relation to Chet at that time. This “hearing various bells sometimes dissonant” greatly disorients the reader, but at the same time hits the primary point: telling much about Chet, many nuances of his character, his way of living art and his way of relating to others through art or through the “profession” of musician.
A wonderful introduction (accompanied by beautiful photos) is entrusted to Nicola Stilo, certainly the Italian musician who had the most intense human and professional relationship with Chet, especially during a difficult period, namely the last years of the American trumpeter’s life; a period filled with human and professional highs and lows as in Baker’s best tradition. Nicola does not introduce with cold or rhetorical words like: "I met Chet in...", or "playing with him was like...". Nicola leaves room for a poignant, heartfelt letter, from which words one perceives that he himself does not miss the "Chet myth", but misses the generous Chet boy, the Chet of extreme pains communicated discreetly, the elegant Chet in manners as well as in sounds, the Chet of car trips. A letter to a musician friend, not to the myth of Chet Baker. A brief introduction on Baker's life and death by Lastella leads us to the testimonies: obviously, it is a subjective journey of those involved, from which the “my Chet” emerges each time, and obviously, in such an atmosphere, it’s a succession of intense and fascinating anecdotes: from the suggestive and chic evenings at Prince Dado Ruspoli’s house, one of the bon vivants of Rome's Dolce Vita in the late '50s and early '60s, to the words of Lucio Fulci, who talks about his love for Chet dealing with a beautiful “Arrivederci” by Umberto Bindi, until reaching the details of the film “Urlatori alla Sbarra”. Then a flood of stories told by Gianni Basso, Oscar Valdambrini, Luca Flores, Ennio Morricone, Massimo Urbani, Roberto Gatto, Carlo Loffredo, Picchi Pignatelli who talks about his Music Inn Jazz Club in Rome founded by her husband Pepito Pignatelli, who organized the evenings at Prince Ruspoli's house. Chet was in love with Rome, and Pignatelli’s testimony is one of the most beautiful in the book. 33 years of Italian stories starring someone like Chet Baker. Just this and all that follows would be enough…
Maybe one day she will tell me: "put on a Chet Baker record", and I will reply: "no...". In that case, I will be jealous of “my” Chet. She will understand...
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