UMILIANI: SMOG - COLONNA SONORA ORIGINALE DEL FILM - CHET BAKER - TROMBA

Performer: Music by Piero Umiliani; Chet Baker, trumpet; Helen Merrill, vocals
Composer: Umiliani
Number of discs: 2
Barcode: 8024709328120
Label: Cam Records
Format: LP
Genre: Soundtracks
Year: 2026

Written and recorded in Rome in 1962, this score marks the extraordinary encounter between renowned Italian composer Umiliani and jazz legend Chet Baker, with the participation of acclaimed jazz vocalist Helen Merrill. A unique dialogue between Italian cinematic writing and West Coast sensibility, capable of translating into sound the alienation and ambiguous fascination of the American dream, Smog is the first Italian film shot in the United States and represents one of the most sophisticated and visionary portrayals of early 1960s Los Angeles. The importance of its historical documentary value is confirmed by the recent restoration carried out by the Cineteca di Bologna. This new soundtrack edition is the result of extensive research and restoration work on the archival materials preserved by CAM Sugar.

The original recording session tapes — preserved for decades in the label’s historical archives — have been digitized in high resolution and restored with philological rigor, preserving the dynamics and warmth of the analogue sound. The result is the most complete and faithful version of this score ever released, enriched with previously unreleased recordings from the original sessions.

With Smog, CAM Sugar continues its mission of enhancing the heritage of Italian film music, returning landmark works to the public in their complete and definitive form. The Archivio Segreto series, available as a 180-gram double LP and double CD edition, was created precisely with this purpose: bringing historic recordings back to light through studio takes, alternate versions, and critical content exploring the composers’ creative process. Released during the centenary celebrations of the composer’s birth, this edition pays tribute to Piero Umiliani’s extraordinary contribution to film music. The music of Smog occupies a central place both in Umiliani’s career and in the history of European cinematic jazz. Far removed from melodramatic emphasis, the score creates a rarefied sonic landscape built from cool phrasing, light orchestrations, and minimalist textures. Baker’s trumpet — fragile, lyrical, and suspended — becomes the emotional core of the soundtrack, embodying the urban solitude and existential melancholy of the protagonist.

Tracks such as “Smog,” “Tension,” “Thinkin’ Blues,” “Twilight in Los Angeles,” and “Along in a Crowd” move between introspection and restrained swing, evoking a Los Angeles that is luminous yet distant, modern yet deeply solitary. More than simple accompaniment, the music acts as an emotional counterpoint to the images: it does not describe, but suggests; it does not impose, but observes.

This CAM Sugar edition is not merely a reissue, but a true work of historical and cultural recovery. The rediscovered materials reveal previously unheard nuances of the collaboration between Umiliani and Baker, highlighting both the freedom of improvisation granted to the trumpeter and the architectural precision of the orchestral writing. Further enriching this double vinyl edition — available in black and marbled vinyl — are editorial contributions offering a complete immersion into the sonic world of Smog. Among them are an essay by American screenwriter and producer Larry Karaszewski — a passionate cinema enthusiast and expert on the cinematic history of Los Angeles — and a personal testimony by Alessandra and Elisabetta Umiliani, the composer’s daughters, who recall the artistic and personal bond between their father and Chet Baker and the circumstances that led to the creation of this soundtrack.

A work that exists simultaneously as a film score and as an autonomous jazz album: elegant, suspended, and surprisingly modern. An unrepeatable encounter between two masters whose poetic power continues to resonate today with undiminished strength.

Piero Umiliani; Chet Baker, trumpet; Helen Merrill, vocals

Side A

• Smog (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)
• Neapolitan Phantasy (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)
• Dawn (vocal; Piero Umiliani, Helen Merrill)
• Hollywood Tonight (Piero Umiliani, I 4+4 di Nora Orlandi)
• California In The Summer (Piero Umiliani)
• Thinkin’ Blues (Piero Umiliani)

Side B

• Smog (vocal; Piero Umiliani, Helen Merrill)
• Tension (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)
• Tops (Piero Umiliani)
• Along in a Crowd (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)
• Bowling (Piero Umiliani)
• Twilight at Los Angeles (Piero Umiliani)

Side C (Outtakes & Alternates)

• Thinking Blues (vocal; Piero Umiliani, Helen Merrill)
• Tema di Smog ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Dawn (instrumental) ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Samba italiana ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Thinking Blues (alternate version) ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Introduzione o Finale (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)

Side D (Outtakes & Alternates)

• Sottofondo con pianoforte ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Canzone all’italiana ** (Piero Umiliani)
• Mambo in piscina (Piero Umiliani)
• Smog (#2) (Piero Umiliani)
• Thinking Blues * ** (Piero Umiliani, Chet Baker)

*Previously unreleased / ** First time on vinyl