Handel, G.F.: Giove in Argo [Opera]

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.

When the European youth chooses War above Love, Cupid decides to seek out new followers on other continents. The opera thus recounts the way people love, hate, envy or trust overseas, all the while asking its western audience a burning question: how do we love right? In "Dreams of Babel", a documentary about the dance prodigy Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui released on DVD by Bel Air Classiques in 2010, the choreographer explained how shifting identities, multiculturalism, and his own plural heritage as the son of an immigrant, had shaped his dramaturgy and artistic inspiration. Thus, to take on the stage direction for "Les Indes Galantes", whose multiple plots take place in a fantasized exotic « elsewhere » supposed to mirror the European society, meant for Cherkaoui bringing the tension between identity and alterity to a whole new level. And the choreographer pushes his reflection much farther than mere baroque specular aesthetics: his "Indes Galante"s raise the sensible issues of population movements, fragmented and ever-changing territories and borders, but also the refugee crisis that has shaken Europe to its very core… For this new production at the Prinzregenten Theater, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui brought his own dance ensemble, the Eastman company, as well as a brilliant vocal cast, among which Anna Prohaska, Francois Lis or Lisette Oropesa. Ivor Bolton conducts a Münchner Festspielorchester at the top of its game.

The music of the British Isles has been charming audiences for centuries. This beautiful collection of Celtic music from Ireland, Scotland and Brittany features famous Celtic artists such as Cunla, Colm O Foghlu, Noel McLoughlin, Clannad, and many more. The songs presented are a shimmering array of the most wistful and beautiful songs and instrumental pieces, which are in a similar vein as the “Titanic” soundtrack, or the ever-popular “Riverdance.” Folk songs are presented here in their most authentic forms, as well as several more recent compositions inspired by these roots. This is true cornucopia of Celtic jewels!

SO NICE

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