Born to Be Blue

A largely fictionalized account of jazz trumpeter and vocalist Chet Baker in the late 1960s, he one of the pioneers of what is coined west coast swing played primarily by Caucasians (as opposed to the more recognized jazz sound of New York bebop and hard bop played primarily by black trumpeters, most notably Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie), is presented. A heroin addict which led to his professional decline, Baker, incarcerated in an Italian jail for possession, is released on parole when an American movie director hires him to star in a movie about his life during the peak of his career in the 1950s, he to portray himself. Although claiming to be clean at the time, he is proven not to be when his drug dealer and his associates severely beat him, largely focusing their attack on his mouth so that he can no longer play the trumpet. Indeed, Baker's embouchure is ruined in the attack, his front teeth knocked out. By this time, he is in a relationship with Jane Azuka, the actress who portrayed his first wife Elaine in the movie, Jane having an uncanny resemblance to the real Elaine. Jane entered into the relationship cautiously, knowing Baker's reputation and she not wanting to get involved with a "bad boy". Not knowing anything else but music, Baker tries to work through the pain and the prosthetic teeth to relearn how to trumpet, it never clear if he will ever achieve the ability to play to the standard to which he and his fans are accustomed. Through the process, he has to get others he knows to believe in him to give him those professional opportunities, such as his old producer Dick Bock, which requires him to stay clean and remain on a new drug treatment, namely methadone, while adhering to the conditions of his probation which requires him to be working steadily, trumpet or not. In Baker seemingly needing the constant support, Jane also has to decide how much she will be by his side through the good and bad, doing so which would generally be at the expense of her own life and budding acting career.