Let's Get Lost with Chet Baker: Film + Live Music by the Larry McDonough Quintet
Sunday, June 18, 2023
6 pm Doors // 7 pm Music + Screening
$10 Advance General Admission // $15 At The Door
All Ages
Ticket Purchases are Final and Non-Refundable
A tribute to the legendary jazz trumpeter and vocalist, Chet Baker, known as the "Prince of Cool." The evening kicks off with a live performance by the Larry McDonough Quintet, followed by a screening of Bruce Weber's acclaimed Academy Award-nominated 1988 documentary, "Let's Get Lost" (120 minutes), chronicling the turbulent life and career of the jazz icon.
Pianist and singer Larry McDonough’s Chet Baker shows have played at the Dakota and Jazz Central to full houses. For years, his quiet singing style has been compared to legendary singer and trumpeter Chet Baker. Joining Larry to complete the Chet Baker sound is Josh May on trumpet, saxman and poet Richard Terrill, bassist Greg Stinson, and drummer Dean White.
The music set will cover the range of the Chet Baker catalog, performing pieces from the 1950s, including My Funny Valentine, The Thrill Is Gone (featured on Larry’s CD Alice in Stonehenge), When I Fall in Love, You Don’t Know What Love Is, and There Will Never Be Another You, as well as songs from the end of Chet’s life, such as All Blues (the rare vocal version), Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, and Moon and Sand.
Larry also will discuss Chet’s life and music and their impact on jazz and Richard Terrill will read his original poems about Chet Baker. Richard is a Minnesota Book Award winner.
Larry McDonough is an award-winning St. Paul jazz composer, pianist, singer, and teacher, performing around the world and recording with his group the Larry McDonough Quartet as well as solo, and in duos and trios. He has performed with legendary saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, trombonist Fred Wesley, and trumpeter Duane Eubanks, as well as a who’s who of local jazz artists, and was inducted into the Minnesota Rock Country Hall of Fame for his work in the group Danny’s Reasons. His awards include the American Composers Forum Showcase Award for the composition Strait of Gibraltar. He has released eleven CDs and DVDs as a leader. When not playing jazz, he performs punk in Saint Small, funk in Funkin’ Right, and classic rock in Whiskey Burn.
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool.” Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals: Chet Baker Sings (1954) and It Could Happen to You (1958). Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one". His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame. Baker was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and 1980s.
“Let's Get Lost” begins near the end of Baker's life, on the beaches of Santa Monica, and ends at the Cannes Film Festival. Director Bruce Weber uses these moments in the present as bookends to the historic footage contained in the bulk of the film. The documentation ranges from vintage photographs by William Claxton in 1953 to appearances on The Steve Allen Show and kitschy, low budget Italian films Baker did for quick money. Musician Michael "Flea" Balzary appears briefly, discussing trumpet playing with Baker.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1989. It won the Critics Prize at the Venice Film Festival and has a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.