One of his best LPs from a very creative and innovative period,
In Stockholm is wonderful almost in spite of itself.
Getz recorded this date for
Norman Granz in December of 1955, after returning from a several-months-long period of recuperation in North Africa due to a crippling illness -- the combination of pleurisy and pneumonia.
Getz is in the company of three Swedish jazzmen: pianist
Bengt Hallberg, bassist
Gunnar Johnson, and drummer
Anders Burman. The program is made up of standards and a mix of ballads and faster bop-flavored tunes. The bluesy "Indiana" kicks the date off with a brief solo tenor intro.
Getz's trademark tone is warm, rich, and full. His real foil on the track is
Johnson, whose bop playing is on the money.
Hallberg is knottier and very formal, and
Burman is merely keeping time, but it hardly matters since it's a blues. The ballads here are what work best, however, as evidenced by "Without a Song," "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You," "Everything Happens to Me," and the utterly lovely reading of the
Yip Harburg-
Harold Arlen tune "Over the Rainbow." The set closes on two uptempo numbers, the sprightly "Get Happy," introduced with a solo by
Getz in full-on blues mode, and the bubbly, shuffling "Jeepers Creepers," which sounds breezy, light, and airy. The thing is, however, that
Getz's lyricism is at a peak here. He can solo right inside the melody with his phrasing, yet accent the actual songs these tunes were taken from. This is top-notch
Getz all the way through.