Chet Baker plaque

A small plaque with a big name

Most people walk past this one. It is a plaque on a hotel on the Zeedijk, in the old centre, and it marks the place where the American jazz trumpeter Chet Baker died in 1988. He fell from a window of the hotel. The plaque ends with the words "He will live on in his music."

It is worth the walk because it is so quiet. There is nothing to queue for and nothing to buy. You stand on an ordinary Amsterdam street, read a few lines, and think about a musician whose trumpet and soft, wary voice made him one of the best-known names in cool jazz. If you know "My Funny Valentine", play it before you come. It sounds different once you have stood here.

The man and the street

Chet Baker was born in Oklahoma and became famous in the 1950s as a trumpeter and singer. Later in life he spent much of his time in Europe, and Amsterdam was one of the places where he ended up. He died here after the fall from the hotel window, and the plaque was put up in his memory.

The street tells you something about the setting. The Zeedijk began as a sea dike, built to hold back the water of the IJ. Later it became a sailors' quarter, with bars and ship-supply shops, and for a long time it had a rough name for crime and drugs. Today it is much calmer. It is the main street of Amsterdam's Chinatown, and people come here to eat. You are standing in one of the oldest parts of the city.

What to look for

Look at the hotel front and find the plaque. It is small, and easy to miss if you are watching the bikes and the people around you. Read the inscription slowly, and stay with the last line for a moment.

Then look up at the windows above you. Do it quietly. This is a place where a real person's life ended, and most visitors treat it that way.

The street is part of the story too. Notice how it bends, and how the old buildings lean in over the pavement. The Zeedijk has seen sailors, traders, musicians and a lot of people just passing through. Chet Baker was one of them, and the street carried on after him.