As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve been quoted in Magyar. It’s a blurb on the back of the Hungarian edition of Jeroen de Valk’s Chet Baker: His Life and Music. That invaluable book is also available in English.
Thanks to photographer Paolo Gant (behind the book) for sending the pictures. Gant captured stunning images of Baker not long before the trumpeter’s death in 1988. You can see a few of them, prominently copyright-protected, at his gallery’s website.
All of that is a perfectly good excuse to hear and see Baker in Stockholm on his 1983 tour with Stan Getz, Jim McNeely, George Mraz and Victor Lewis. Getz all but owned “Dear Old Stockholm;” he’s the one who recorded the traditional Swedish song in 1951 and made it a jazz standard. This night, though, he presented the melody and gave Chet the solo. And what a solo.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
This is without a doubt my favorite era of Chet. His lines were so clear and precise, his tone so fragile, his ideas seemingly endless.
Thanks for posting that great clip. I own a video tape of that concert that I bought off eBay, but I’ve never been able to watch it. I didn’t read the fine print of the auction well enough and found only after I received it that it is in the European PAL format that won’t play on my VCR!
Jason —
It’s out on DVD: Chet & Stan in Sweden, 1983
Lines by lions — Wonderful are Chet’s remembrances of the blues during his lyrical solo. Chet in an indigo mood … Magic!
It’s the right time, I think, to play the LP from that concert, after all that Charlie Parker craziness which had befallen me over the weekend.
How about some fresh air?
Sonny’s “Airegin”
(Getz didn’t often play direct quotes, which makes his unexpected “Darktown Strutter’s Ball” lick near the end of “Airegin” all the more surprisingly funny.—DR)
Note to Jason:
Depending on where you reside, there should be a business that can transfer your PAL tape to NTSC format. Ask around.
I may be partisan, but that Chet-nik is strictly not from Hungary. And Stan the Guys (pace, Zoot) ain’t too shabby either. Who’d ever have imagined a time when thousands of fine and believed-to-be ephemeral Jazz performances would re-enter the aether and be miraculously available to us all? (Thank You, Tube.) But only a few will ever match the tender stillness of that Stockholm.
I like the saxophone playing in the video. Those photos look cool in black and white. That solo was truly a masterpiece.
…this is another (better) link to all my Chet’s photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elkiddo/sets/72157600322079313/
Other jazz artists are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elkiddo/sets/72157600228102118/
Thanks a lot for mentioning this book. And: for your great taste in video clips! Chet doing Dear OS in this concert is one of my favorites too.
But please keep in mind that all non-Dutch editions of my Chet bio are based on my 1989 edition. The drastically updated and expanded ’07-edition is only available in Dutch.
A US publication of this ultimate edition would be a dream come true. Alas, my US previous publisher doesn’t exist anymore. The translation rights are available again. I think it can give a US publisher quite a profit, but from here I’m not able to get in touch with anyone. Most publishers I tried to approach, assume I jumped on the band wagon after Gavin’s gossip bio, and won’t believe anything else.
So… if anyone knows how to get my new edition in the US, that would be great!