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.

Chaque album du trio Kuhn/Humair/Jenny-Clark est une promesse de perfection. Enregistre au cours de la tournee internationale 1992-1993, ce live est un temoin inespere de l'apogee de ce trio legendaire et de l'alchimie incandescente qui unissait ces trois maitres. La virtuosite est organique, la puissance inalterable et l'elegance regne en majeste. L'age d'or du jazz en Europe. Augustin BONDOUX / Patrick FReMEAUX Each album by the trio Kuhn/Humair/Jenny-Clark already promises perfection. And this unexpected live recording made in the course of an international tour in 1992-1993 proves at least three things: the trio was at it's zenith; it had already become a legend; and the alchemy that bound these three masters together was incandescent. Here their virtuosity is no less than organic, the trio's power is unshakeable, and the elegance that reigns throughout is majestic. This is a demonstration of the Golden Age of jazz in Europe. Augustin Bondoux / Patrick Fremeaux INDIA (JOHN COLTRANE) - HEAVY HANGING (Joachim Kuhn) - GUYLeNE (DANIEL HUMAIR / Joachim Kuhn) - FROM TIME TO TIME FREE (DANIEL HUMAIR / Joachim Kuhn) - SUMMERTIME (GEORGES GERSHWIN). Joachim Kuhn PIANO - DANIEL HUMAIR DRUMS - JEAN-FRANcOIS JENNY-CLARK BASS

30 years ago I published an album for the Gallery Fr�meaux & Associ�s, and it included six great lithographies that Daniel Humair created under the title Scratch Bop and Paper". The brush-strokes of the narrative abstracts in Daniel's paintings always reminded me of the fundamental traits in his sticks hitting a drum skin, and in the flat tints of his painted works I could almost see the sometimes long harmonies that came from his cymbals. Daniel can detach himself from the instrument that provides a supporting frame to become a humble conductor who arranges the most creative configurations, carrying musicians who are "blowers" into a state of trance. Our Humair, a master of the drums, illustrates Charles Cros' famous words, "A record means three minutes of silence to be decorated." Because Daniel is quite uninhibited in decorating this "Drum Thing" where his partners, the wonderful soloists Vincent L� Quang and Yoann Loustalot (the trio's guests) can contribute to the rhythm setting provided by St�phane Kerecki, another masterful player, and one of the greatest jazz drummers in the world." (Patrick Fremeaux)

Classical Music

To invent new stories and share them… The birth of this trio took place at the crossroads between the lives and experiences of the three artists. Apart from the friendship they shared, and the admiration they already had for each other, the very existence of this trio seemed to be an unavoidable encounter, a confrontation that they’d all been hoping for. Taking a strong, common vision of jazz and improvisation as their starting point, they off er music that is resolutely modern and uncompromising. It makes them an exceptional trio, and here they invite listeners to follow them through these «New Stories», all of them subtle chapters in a book that shows their commitment. Patrick FRÉMEAUX