And yet the two men were, in fact, close friends. Sheldon, who was two years younger, idolized Baker, though he was careful not to emulate the slightly older trumpeter’s lifestyle. In the late 1960s ...

In 1952, a 21-year-old trumpeter from Oklahoma named Chet Baker established himself as one the few real superstars of contemporary jazz by both playing and singing with an unmistakable lyricism and at ...