“We wanted to make an intimate, soothing, chilled, loungey album of American standards and French chansons – an album that matched our style, taste and frame of reference, and above all our language as classical musicians … A sort of layering of two different worlds,” says French-born clarinettist Pierre Génisson, who has partnered with the multi-faceted pianist Bruno Fontaine to produce Songbook. The album features numbers by such songwriters as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, Charles Aznavour, Michel Legrand, Charles Trenet and Serge Gainsbourg. Appearing beside Génisson and Fontaine are drummer Fabrice Moreau, bassist Benoit Dunoyer de Segonzac and five guest performers from different backgrounds and genres: vocalists Monica Bellucci, Youn Sun Nah, Kimberose and Lambert Wilson, and guitarist Thibaut Garcia. “What we want to do with Songbook is to offer a new and different interpretation of songs that everyone knows and sings to themselves,” continues Pierre Génisson, “What could be more soothing than a familiar melody, whispered in your ear, like a personal message …?”

Terrific lineup of artists includes Monica Bellucci on “I Got You Under My Skin”, Lambert Wilson on “My Funny Valentine”, Thibaut Garcia on Salvador’s “Syracuse” and on “Smile”, Youn Sun Nah in “La Javanaise”, Kimberose on “What A Wonderful World”.”