“Most jazz records are made in studios with perfect acoustics. Ours was made in a French château surrounded by vineyards. And the acoustics were perfect too. The atmosphere was as rich and complex as the region’s finest vintages - a setting unlike any other for a jazz session.

“Morten Lund, Kaisa Mäensivu, and I - each an artist in our own right - had never shared a stage before that day. And yet, in that moment, something clicked. Under the high ceilings of the château, surrounded by barrels of aging wine, we reached into the Great American Songbook and pulled out something fresh, alive, and new.

“We love these tunes. They’re like perfect little stories packed into 32 bars. The jazz standards are our roots. These Broadway and Hollywood melo dies are the songs that shaped this music - and we wanted to give them our voice, here and now.

“Also included on the album are two French songs - a lovely idea from our producer, Andreas Brandis. ‘Hymne à l’Amour’ is a song I’ve known since childhood. The lullaby ‘Fais dodo, Colas mon p’tit frère’ is familiar only to French people, but I think we captured a beautiful version of it.” - iiro Rantala