LET’S GET LOST, also the name of a long out-of-print Baker tune, aptly describes the driving force of this man and his music. His James Dean looks and cool sound set Baker apart from the other musicians of his time but his ongoing issues with a narcotic addiction also gave a generation of jazz fans a Doomed Youth of their very own. Chet Baker’s life plays out like a Kerouac creation, as did his death (he fell out of an Amsterdam hotel window on Friday the 13th 1988, age 58), but out of his life came some of the most lyrical trumpet playing and jazz vocals ever heard.
Following the elusive and digressive nature of their star, Weber, cinematographer Jeff Preiss, and crew went on the road with Baker from the West Coast to the East Coast to continental Europe, during what turned out to be the last year of the musician’s life. Weber captures some of Baker’s last recording sessions; weaves in excerpts from Italian B movies starring the handsome young Chet, as well as rare performance footage; pauses for candid interviews with Baker, musicians, friends, battling ex-wives and children; and adds an extra visual dimension that is becoming the filmmaker’s personal stamp.
LET’S GET LOST was a sensation at several international film festivals, including the 1989 “New Directors/New Films” series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Critics’ Prize.
