Fell from the open window of his hotel room

In the early 1970's, Chet Baker began to learn how to play with dentures. Beginning in 1974, Chet recorded and toured regularly, mostly in Europe. Despite the effects of age, drugs and false teeth, he actually improved in those later years. Chet's performances in the eighties were unpredictable. Sometimes he would show up and perform the best gig of his career. Sometimes he would show up and perform poorly. Sometimes he wouldn't even show up.

Chet Baker's turbulent life came to a bizarre and tragic end on May 13, 1988 in Amsterdam. Chet fell from the open window of his hotel room, hitting the concrete two stories below.

It can be argued that Chet was at his musical peak when he died in 1988. Indeed some of his best recordings came from 1986 and 1987.

How did Chet baker die? Was he murdered? Did he kill himself?One of the many things people find fascinating about Chet Baker is his "mysterious death". The only thing that makes it mysterious is that no one witnessed it. Murder can be ruled out because there was no sign of struggle in Chet's hotel room, and the door was locked from the inside. Nor was it a planned suicide. There was no note, and any person intending to kill themselves would have certainly jumped from higher that 2 stories. Usually a fall like that would result in broken bones but not death. No, Chet's death was an odd, misfortunate accident. He simply fell out of the window. There was heroin found in his system, and there were large amounts of cocaine and heroin in his room. He probably went to open the window, and simply lost his balance. When he fell (at about 3 AM), he struck his head on a concrete post on the sidewalk. Given Baker's life of ups and downs, the rumors make for a more interesting end to his story.