Search - Stan Getz :: In Stockholm

Stan plays "Indiana" on an unknown gem

rash67 | USA | 05/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Stan Getz wife, Monica, spirited him of to her native Sweden in the late fifties and may have saved his life. While there he played with the local musicians to keep his skills up. This album is one of those efforts. The chief virtue of "In Stockholm" is that Stan plays a lot of songs not usually associated with him, which he plays nowhere else, to my knowledge, like "(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow", "Get Happy" and "Jeepers Creepers". "Indiana" is really more associated with his sonic tenor sax grandfather, Lester Young. (Contrast this with the Lester Young version of "Indiana" on the "Complete Lester Young and Nat King Cole"!) This is a album full of pleasant early bebop/swing - perhaps Verve will see fit to release a non-import version, but til that time, this is the only place you can hear it. The backup band pretty much plays sonic wallpaper for Stan to do his thing. This is pretty well recorded for the time. Performance: 3 1/2 stars to 4 stars for better than average unknown gem, under my tough grading system! A pleasant surprise! This is a good rating for me, I don't give many 5 star ratings."