Music Legend’s Shelved Recordings Released 37 Years After His Death
- - Music Legend’s Shelved Recordings Released 37 Years After His Death
Craig RosenNovember 15, 2025 at 2:58 AM
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(Photo by Marcello Mencarini/Getty Images)
There’s some good news for fans of Chet Baker.
New music by the late acclaimed jazz trumpeter and singer has just been released, 37 years after his death.
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Fifteen previously unreleased studio and live tracks by Baker that were recorded during the making of Bruce Weber’s 1988 Oscar-nominated documentary Let’s Get Lostare now available on the album Chet Baker Performs & Sings Swimming by Moonlight, after they spent nearly 40 years on the shelf.
The album is available for streaming as well as in two-LP and two-CD physical packages. The songs were recorded on analog tape and transferred and edited by John Leftwich, a bassist-producer who was a member of Baker’s late 1980s band.
Recorded at Sage and Sound Studio in Hollywood, Studio Davout in Paris, as well as a 1987 Cannes performance at the premiere of Weber’s debut feature film, Broken Noses, the recordings capture Baker in prime form. The album includes Baker’s takes of classics by Irving Berlin (“Remember”), Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Quiet Nights), and Alec Wilder (“I’ll Be Around),” as well as an interpretation of Elvis Costello’s “Almost Blue.”
“Something occurred to me when I listened to the final mixes,” Weber said in a statement. “They sounded so good, and hearing Chet’s voice that way made me feel like I was sitting in a room with him again. With this album, he made an ending to Let’s Get Lost that I never could have imagined!”
Baker died on May 13, 1988, after falling out of a second-story window at a hotel in Amsterdam. His death was ruled an accident. Traces of heroin and cocaine were in his body and found in his room. He was 59.
Nicknamed the “Prince of Cool” for his velvety voice, smooth trumpet-playing and movie-star good looks, Baker battled drug addiction for much of his career and spent time behind bars for drug-related charges.
Aside from the Let’s Get Lost documentary, Baker’s life was also told in 2015 biopic Born to Be Blue, starring Ethan Hawke as the late musician.
This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
