I was listening to this EP today and started searching around for images of Chet in Italy from these years (1960 - '62) when I stumbled across this blog post. It’s got all sorts of interesting tid bits about Chet’s life from this ear. Good read and pictures, if you’re into it.
When he was in Lucca, Chet Baker always stayed at the Hotel Universo, room 15 where, sitting on the windowsill, he would often play his trumpet. Room 15, still today highly requested by his fans, looks onto the piazza of the Teatro del Giglio where Chet held several concerts. But maybe, for him, the most exciting concert held there was the one organized in his honor on December 15, 1961 by his jazz friends Giovanni Tommaso, Franco Mondini, Antonello Vannucchi and Amedeo Tommasi, on the day he was left the San Giorgio prison in Lucca, following one year of detention.