Against the odds

Stan Getz & Chet Baker: "The Stockholm Concerts" (Verve)

By any measure, these should have been a shambles. The pianist, Jim McNeely, was jet-lagged after a 40-hour flight from Sydney to Stockholm, and the principals, Getz and Baker - one with a drink problem, the other with a heroin problem - were scarcely on speaking terms. But when they went on stage in February, 1983, something almost miraculous happened; Getz, by then in a late re-flowering of his transcendent gifts, hit one of his peaks; McNeely was jolted out of his travel-induced automatic pilot; and Baker, unpushy and somewhat overawed by Getz's ill-concealed contempt on the tour they were sharing, emerged hesitantly from his shell to play well. In this they were further prodded by a magisterial George Mraz on bass and an almost telepathic Vic Lewis on drums. Moreover, in putting together this three-CD gem, Verve has included seven previously unreleased performances from the concerts that night, several of which, including two takes of Sippin' At Bell's, and a version of We'll Be Together Again from the first concert, may be even better than anything originally released from the event. Getz and the rhythm section dominate - Baker is heard on 13 of the 22 performances, while Getz is on them all - during more than two hours of superbly lyrical music, beautifully expressed, that belies the circumstances under which it was created. Essential. Ray Comiskey