Stan Getz And Swedish All Stars

Stan Getz

And Swedish All Stars • Vol. 2 

Featuring Bengt Hallberg

In Europe today, the musical portrait is a rather unusual one. In Paris, one finds only three clubs with Jazz in any form. Don Byas in his own club, Sidney Bechet in another, and Roy Eldridge at the last one. Note, all three are names with backgrounds of over 15 years on the Jazz Scene. The newer faces like James Moody and Kenny Clarke, well they are there, thats all. 

England has never gotten over Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins. Italy knows only of Duke and Louis, not that that’s bad but there are so many more faces on the Jazz Horizon. 

It is Sweden and Denmark that have come along with the new sound. They have let us hear a few of their sounds like the late Stan Hasselgrad, Rheinhold Svenson, Peter Rasmussen and the greatest little group in Svend Asmussen. From these sounds, we were left hungry for more. 

In Sweden at Easter time there are a series of Jazz Concerts presented in seven major cities. They usually import one or two American jazz musicians depending upon the cost of the artist. This year they honored Stan Getz with an invitation. 

Upon his landing in Stockholm they had a welcoming party of hundreds of Jazz fans who had a banquet waiting for Stan. So on it went, every city he visited the fans turned out en masse, banquets and parties followed. Every morning as Stan would prepare to depart for another city and another concert, there would be champagne breakfasts, toasts to Stan’s good health and Bon Voyage.

Stan was thrilled, rejuvenated at the thought of this tribute to his talent, overwhelmed with joy Stan, chose to record on his last day in Sweden a living memory of all this, his greatest victory ever. 

He chose the same musicians who worked with him on this concert tour, and as Stan put it, "never have I ever felt more like blowing than that day", need we say more? 

And for those who crave for more Swedish Sounds we suggest a close ear to the pianistics of Bengt Hallberg. *Teddy Reig (liner notes)*

As critic John Bush recalls, 1951 was a busy year for Stan Getz. After leaving Woody Herman's band in 1949 spending the better part of a year on his own, he found his first great rhythm section at a Hartford club jam session.

Just three weeks later, 24-year-old Stan Getz was playing in Stockholm with some of the biggest names in Swedish jazz at the time, recording eight tracks (ranging from Porter's "Night and Day" to the traditional "Ack, Värmeland du Sköna") in two days with a classy all-star group that included a light-fingered young pianist named Bengt Hallberg.

Here are those rare recordings made by Roost Records.

Side 1

1. Standanavian

(Stan Getz)

2. Prelude To A Kiss

(Duke Ellington)

3. I Only Have Eyes For You

(Harry Warren)

4. Dear Old Stockholm

(Traditional)

Side 2

5. Night And Day

(Cole Porter)

6. Flamingo

(Ted Grouya, Edmund Anderson)

7. Don't Get Scared

(Stan Getz)

8. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You

(George Bassman, Ned Washington)

#1 to #5, #8:

Stan Getz (tenor sax); Bengt Hallberg (piano); Gunnar Johnson (bass);

Jack Norén [#1, #4, #5, #8], Kenneth Fagerlund [#2, #3] (drums)

#6, #7

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), 

Bengt Hallberg (piano), Yngve Åkerberg (bass), Jack Norén (drums)

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, March 23 (#1 to #5, #8), and March 24 (#6, #7), 1951

Åke Persson - New Sounds From Sweden

Åke Persson Swedish All Stars

New Sounds From Sweden

Featuring Arne Domnérus

On a cold and foggy February midnight 1975, ace trombonist Åke Persson put his Germany-registred old Volvo Amazon in first gear and drove slowly down a snowy knoll adjoining a walking path in front of the US Embassy in Stockholm. The Amazon soon reached the icy bayside Edge - but, amazingly, refused to let the onrushing waters turn out the fully lit headlights.

Hours later, a man walking his dog along the same path sees the strange, almost fluorescing lights from under wáter. For a brief second, he wonders what a team of divers mights do out there, in teh darkness of the small hours. Then, he notices rubber tracks in the snow, and a trombone case by a pocket size telephone book sitting on a stone pillar. On arrival, police decides that the unknown Amazon driver is someone by the name of Persson, Åke, home address Blumenthalstrasse, West Berlín.

By 1975, Åke was considered the tombone player in all of European jazz. *Hans Fridlund*

Born in Hässleholm, Sweden, on February 25, 1932, Åke Persson, known as "the Comet" (or "Kometen"), was a fine trombonist with an appealing tone who worked steadily in Europe during his prime years and occasionally guested with American jazzmen who were on tour. Among Persson's associations through the years were Simon Brehm (1951-1954), Arne Domnérus, Hacke Björksten, Harry Arnold's Swedish Radio Band (1956-1961), Quincy Jones' big band (playing for the ill-fated Free and Easy show), Lars Gullin, the RIAS Big Band (1961-1975), and the Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland Big Band (1963-1971). Additionally, Persson had opportunities to play with George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Benny Bailey, Count Basie (1962), Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie, among many others.

Persson, considered one of the top European bop trombonists of the 1950s and '60s, led four numbers apiece during sessions for Metronome in 1953, Philips in 1957, EmArcy from 1956-1957, and Metronome again in 1959: 16 selections in all.

Persson drowned in the Djurgården canal in central Stockholm in February 1975; he had driven his car into the canal either accidentally or deliberately.

Side 1

1 - Jumping With Queen Anne

(Blomquist, Svensson)

2 - Pops

(Blomquist, Svensson)

3 - Walking Feet

(G. Svensson)

4 - Subway

(Blomquist, Svensson)

Side 2

5 - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

(S. Romberg, O. Hammerstein II)

6 - It Might As Well Be Spring

(R. Rodgers, O. Hammerstein II) 

7 - Hershey Bar

(Johnny Mandel)

8 - My Blue Heaven

(W. Donaldson, G. A. Whiting)

#1 to #4:

Åke Persson (trombone); Arnold Johansson (valve trombone [#1, #2]);

Rolf Blomquist [#1, #2], Carl-Henrik Norin [#3, #4] (tenor saxes);

Ernie Englund (trumpet [#3, #4]); Gunnar Svensson (piano);

Yngve Åkerberg (bass); Jack Norén [#1, #2], Alan Dawson [#3, #4] (drums)

Recorded at Radiotjänst (Karlaplansstudion) in Stockholm, Sweden,

February 19 (#1, #2) and November 6 (#3, #4) 1953

#5 to #8:

Åke Persson (trombone), Arne Domnérus (alto sax),

Bengt Hallberg (piano), Gunnar Johnson (bass), Jack Norén (drums).

Recorded at Radiotjänst (Karlaplansstudion), Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1953

Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XVIII)

Benny Bailey And The Quincetet

The Music Of Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones wears many hats. He is an arranger of brilliance. He plays trumpet passably. He leads his own large orchestra, a feat that requires more than conducting, in that a leader also has to be father, mother, wife, and psychiatrist to some 16 musicians. But, most of all, he is a composer who writes with delicate melodic sense and rhythmic vigor-

He is a budding Duke Ellington, and there are many who will tell you that his orchestra will be the band of the 1960s.

He already has given impressive indication of the road he intends to take. The recent trip he made with his band revealed to listeners what his first two albums had led them to suspect – that his orchestra is precise, joyously swinging, and interested in exploring arrangements that show thought in their preparation and are written expressly for the musicians in that band, utilizing their individual capabilities.

One of those individuals created a good deal of attention on his own. That would be Benny Bailey, the trumpeter with huge tone and broad attack who went to Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton and stayed there until Quincy called Benny back from Sweden to join him.

Bailey's performances herein show you why Jones was so eager to get him on the band. This LP was cut in Sweden last year in the company of another American, drummer Joe Harris, and the light-quick Swedish trombonist Åke Persson, another member of the Jones band. Several combinations of Swedish all-stars make up the backing.

We think you'll find this combination of Quincy Jones' music and the resounding horns of Benny Bailey and Åke Persson to be a stirring mixture and one that points out yet one more facet of Quincy's talent. He has an unerring sense of taste when it comes to picking the right chairs. Quincy Delight Jones is something else! *Al Porch (liner notes)*

An excellent album that's a perfect document of the strong impact that Quincy Jones had in the transatlantic jazz scene of the late 50s and early 60s! The set was recorded in 1960, and features two players that Quincy would leave behind in Europe to have a huge influence on the scene. Trumpeter Benny Bailey is the greatest of these – and his impact on jazz in Germany and Sweden during the 60s and 70s cannot be discounted. The other is drummer Joe Harris, who does excellent work here in a group that includes Arne Domnérus on sax, Åke Persson on trombone, and Gunnar Svensson on piano – all Swedes that Quincy picked up after touring the country heavily during the late 50s. The set grooves with the best of Jones' work on Mercury from the time – and although Quincy's not listed in the credits, it's probably only because of contractual reasons. Titles are all Jones originals – including "Meet Benny Bailey", "Plenty, Plenty Soul", "Fallen Feathers", and "The Midnight Sun Never Sets". *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

This album is one of the earliest devoted solely to the compositions of Quincy Jones and emerged from his work in Europe in the late 1950s. A classic session that took place 1959 in Stockholm featuring international stars Joe Harris and Benny Bailey. Together with a troop of legendary Swedish jazzers from this era they recorded this album which in many ways is a tribute to the songwriting skills of master Quincy Jones. Apart from Åke Persson, musicians like Arne Domnérus, Lennart Jansson and a handful of others are making this to a true gem.*paladinvinyl.com*

Side 1

1. The Golden Touch

(Jones, Pettiford)

2. I'm Gone

(Quincy Jones)

3. Jones Beach

(Quincy Jones)

4. The Midnight Sun Never Sets

(Jones , Salvador)

Side 2

5. Meet Benny Bailey

(Quincy Jones)

6. Plenty, Plenty Soul

(Jones, Jackson)

7. Fallen Feathers

(Quincy Jones)

8. Count 'Em

(Jones, Cleveland)

Benny Bailey (trumpet); Åke Persson (trombone); Arne Domnérus (alto sax);

Bjarne Nerem (tenor sax); Lennart Jansson (baritone sax);

Gunnar Svensson [#1], Gösta Theselius [#2 to #8] (piano); Gunnar Johnson (bass);

Anders Burman [#3, #6], Joe Harris [#1, #2, #4, #5, #7, #8] (drums).

Recorded at Millessalen Recording Studios, Stockholm, Sweden, October 8, 1959