He has been described as ‘the best loved of all saxophonists, perhaps of all jazz musicians’ (The Penguin Guide to Jazz). Yet there has not been a biography of Ben Webster until now. Best known for his ballads, Webster had the most personal and immediately identifiable sound in all the music. He
Chet Baker (1929-1988) was a star by the age of 23, winner of all the jazz polls for his singing as well as his trumpet playing. His early promise, though, was frustrated by involvement with drugs, and by a popular shift in taste away from the cool jazz of the West Coast. But except for a few years
