From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared on the West Coast to become, virtually overnight, a giant of "cool" jazz - until his mysterious death in 1988, the story of Chet Baker has all the trappings of an American myth. In this biography of Baker's life, James Gavin gives the reader a full account of this dark journey. Starting with Baker's tormented youth - the pain that would haunt his entire life, barely concealed by an enigmatic, ultracool facade - the author re-creates the birth of the uniquely lyrical, if erratic, trumpet player and the fragile tenor voice that catapulted Baker to fame. His magnetic looks and anguished bearing entranced both sexes, but his only real romance, apart from music, was with drugs. Gavin narrates in detail the harrowing spiral of dependency down which Baker tumbled, dragging with him those who dared to get close.