Lyrical improvisations are the specialty of the Nijmegen born jazz singer
Fay Claassen. She has the capacity to either merge her clear voice with the other instruments, or to really blow in free jazz solos.
Fay Claassen Sings Two Portraits of Chet Baker is the name of a tribute on two CD’s to the legendary trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, who died after a fall from his Amsterdam hotel window in 1988. The first CD contains material associated with Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less quartet, featuring Baker, from the fifties. With her vocal improvisations Claassen represents the trumpet and baritone saxophonist Jan Menu adopts the role of Mulligan. On the other CD she sings a selection of Baker’s vocal oeuvre. The singer is a great admirer of Baker: “He had a special gift that enabled him to let the music float from a certain simplicity. His voice is as melancholy as his trumpet.“
