Appallingly eventful life …

… Fragile fool | About Last Night.

Unlike most musical biographies written by non-musicians, however, this one works—partly because that life was so appallingly eventful, but mostly because Mr. Gavin has done his job with scrupulous care, separating fact from rumor and facing up to the full implications of Baker’s despicable conduct. Unlike Bruce Weber, the fashion photographer turned filmmaker whose 1989 documentary “Let’s Get Lost” treated the handsome trumpeter as a glamorously decadent object of desire, James Gavin has no illusions about Chet Baker. Though he understands the perverse appeal of “the beautiful, self-destructive rebel who lived on the run, avoiding responsibility, rejecting convention,” he treats Baker not as a pretty pin-up boy but as a serious artist worthy of intelligent consideration….