In 1952 in Los Angles, Chet Baker literally stepped out of the crowd of young trumpet players; at an open audition, Charlie Parker picked the 23-year-old as his front-line partner for a West Coast tour. Later that year, Baker joined Gerry Mulligan's quartet, recorded "My Funny Valentine" and became an instant star. Soon, he was placing in polls with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, leading his own band and finding himself as famous for his singing as for his playing. Baker was capable of fast, hard trumpet work, but it was the lyricism and restrained simplicity of his work with standard songs like these that gained him his biggest audience.