Chesney Henry Baker Jr., a native of Oklahoma, developed his sense of play and technique in engagement with military ensembles and smoky post-war bars. When he bid farewell to his native Yale and drove to Los Angeles in 1951 as a young man, he made a crucial decision that affected his life and enriched jazz music. With complete ease, he left behind all the adepts in one "casting" for the prestigious post of a member of the ensemble of the great Charlie Parker himself, with whom he undertook a shorter tour and made a proper name. His meeting with Gerry Mulligan was just as crucial. In the quartet of a respected musician and composer, his talent flourished like a rose of thorns - but even here the coin had the obligatory two sides. Hit My Funny Valentine and later collaborations with pianist Russ Freeman catapulted him among the jazz superstars, but later he took up a drug habit, and with grotesquely iron regularity he then took turns participating on the stage with prison stays.
In the late 1950s, he left the USA for Europe, where he also developed a film career. In addition to several roles in war films, many of his works are decorated with music and personal presentations by an active jazzman. At the same time, he had to move, the prudent United States said clearly no to his drug escapades, which in turn brought him popularity and sympathy on the old continent. Of course, except for the police and the judiciary, which, had no understanding of his drug habits either. He returned home episodically, recording solo and participatory albums until 1968 came and Baker faced a possible end to his career. He lost almost all his teeth and stopped playing for two years. Five years later, he got a little together and, due to his desperate need for a living, started performing again, though with great difficulty. He already lived almost exclusively in Europe and performed in a trio with guitarists and bassists.
In March 1988, he filmed in German studios, then left for Amsterdam, where his life ended tragically on May 13, with circumstances still not fully explained to this day.