Chet Baker discusses his first encounter with the trumpet.

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Chet Baker discusses his leadership abilities.

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Chet Baker discusses the pressures that lead to his drug addiction.

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Q: “You didn’t do too well coping with the pressures of being a leader, did you? Because you were pretty straight before you got into all that, but you started with your drug problems and everything…”

A: Chet Baker: “Well, I use to get high. I used to smoke some grass. I like to smoke grass. I didn't think it was harmful and I still don't. But I had several bands and changes in personnel and usually, it was, at least, one or two guys in the band who we’re using. And from '54 after Jerry, '53, '54, '55, '56, '57, I got to '57 before I started chipping and messing around and finally got strung out. That took me a long time and after that …”

Interviewer: 00:00:30.707 [inaudible]

Chet Baker: “Yeah, it was sort of to block out all the ... I don’t want to use that word, I’ll just say crap, you know. But that goes along with the music business, the club owners, the agents, the critics and some of the stupid people that you have to deal with and I couldn’t handle it. All I wanted to do is get up and play, you know. And I kind of use it to block out everything. I just went in to myself and shut it all out and that just doesn’t work out, you know.”