Track Listing 1. Well You Needn't 2. These Foolish Things 3. Star Eyes 4. Somewhere Over the Rainbow 5. Pent-up House 6. Blues in the Closet
Personnel: Chet Baker (trumpet); Bobby Jaspar (tenor saxophone, flute); Amadeo Tommasi (piano); Rene Thomas (guitar); Benoit Quersin (bass); Daniel Humair (drums).
Recorded in 1962. Includes liner notes by Ira Gitler.
Digitally remastered by Joe Lopes and Jay Newland (September 1991, BMG Recording Studios, New York, New York).
This is part of the Bluebird Records Masters of Jazz series.
Chet Baker's good looks and somewhat halting delivery made him seem the James Dean of jazz. However, behind the youthful charm and celebrity image of his early years, he was a musician who transcended such sub-genres as "bebop" or "cool." In fact, SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW is testament to the fact that Baker's musical output can't be easily pigeonholed.
On this 1962 release, we hear the legendary trumpeter on uptempo versions of "Blues in the Closet," the little-known but cleverly penned Oscar Pettiford tune, and an inventive version of Thelonious Monk's "Well You Needn't," where Baker slowly builds his solo until he explodes into a deluge of ascending and descending chromatic flourishes. Although Baker was much more than just a ballad player, intimate versions of "These Foolish Things" and the title track, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" add an air of dreaminess to one of Baker's most distinctive albums of the '60s.
