Piero Umiliani & Chet Baker

Smog

As noted for our Il Paradiso dell’Uomo soundtrack release, Italian film composer Piero Umiliani was responsible for over 200 original motion picture soundtracks during his long and varied career, creating 35 television theme songs and 40 music library albums. Born in Florence in 1926, he began to receive international recognition in 1958 for his work on the soundtrack of the comedic crime film I Soliti Ignoti (also known as Persons Unknown, Le Pigeon or Big Deal on Madonna Street, depending on the territory), which featured the contribution of jazz trumpeter and actor Chet Baker, an alumnus of Stan Getz, Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan’s bands that enjoyed a successful solo career, both in the US and in Europe, despite longstanding issues with heroin addiction. In 1961, Umiliani and Baker joined forces again for the soundtrack of the film Smog, a complicated courtroom drama about an Italian lawyer’s travels to Los Angeles, which resulted in all manner of unexpected escapades. Baker features prominently on the moody theme song, the unexpected swing of “Thinkin’ Blues,” the terse melody of the aptly-titled “Tension,” the lingering moodiness of “Alone In A Crowd” and the intense edginess of “Twilight At Los Angeles”; Helen Merrill contributes an alternate reading of the theme song in vocal form and a sultry number called “Dawn.” The remainder is pure Umiliani, mostly in the form of heavily-orchestrated big-band jazz, fitting music for a silver-screen venture.