Search - Stan Getz :: Stan Getz in Stockholm (Dig)

"Stockholm" Not So Bad

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 04/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I generally only write reviews for previously unreviewed CDs on Amazon, but the comments below are so misleading, and ultimately uninformative, that I had to run to Stan Getz's rescue. First, the sound here is just fine -- it was recorded in a Stockholm studio (not live as the item page suggests) in December 1955 with a Swedish rhyhtm trio. Granted Sweden was not a jazz hotbed like NYC, or even Paris, but pianist Bengt Hallberg is quite good and bassist Gunnar Johnson is solid as well. Only drummer Anders Burman, a Dixieland player who only uses cymbal and snare here, leaves anything to be desired. Second, "Stan Getz in Stockholm" holds some historical significance in the tenor saxophonist's biography. In August of '55 he made the very successful West Coast Jazz (see my review), but soon contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized for the next four months. Against doctor's orders, he cut this record during a stop-over on his way to North Africa, in order to heal the adhesion in his lung in a milder, sunny climate. Uninspired, could you play that well with one lung?! So after considering all these factors, and to help offset the ludicrous one-star of the other reviewer, I will award four here (though three is probably more accurate). The only thing I will agree with is that Getz's best work is indeed found elsewhere."