Stan Getz And Chet Baker - Live In Stockholm [1984, Jazz, DVD5]

1) According to this set's annotator, Mike Hennessey, and Stan Getz's biographer, Donald Maggin, the circumstances surrounding the making of these 1983 recordings was unpleasant in the extreme. For various reasons, Getz was unhappy to be concertizing with Baker and forced him out before the 35-date tour was halfway finished. Before Baker left, however, the men played a pair of concerts in Stockholm, which were fortunately recorded for posterity. Fortunately not because Getz and Baker shared any special rapport that led to a classic performance, but because the resulting album gives listeners another example of how wonderful a player Chet Baker was, even after years of drug addiction and general dissolution. Getz is his typical self -- lyrical, facile almost to the point of glibness, but musical nevertheless. Baker, on the other hand, is as he ever was -- one of the most spontaneously creative, emotionally compelling voices in jazz. The band is good if unspectacular; drummer Victor Lewis was a particularly nice choice in that he could drive a band like this without overwhelming the rather brittle lead voices. And Getz is excellent; if you're a Getz fan, he's in fine form here, so you won't be disappointed. Baker, on the other hand, is superb; it's his inimitable musicality that ultimately makes this rather pricey three-disc set a bargain. (by Chris Kelsey – Allmusic.com)
2) Typically, the Stan Getz Quartet (with Jim McNeely on piano, George Mraz on bass and Victor Lewis on drums) would open the concert with a long set that included such favorites of Stan's as "O Grande Amor" and "We'll Be Together Again"; Chet would do a couple of vocal numbers, usually "Just Friends" and "My Funny Valentine"; section; and then the two would jam on three or four songs like "Stella by Starlight" and "Airegin."
But according to promoter Wim Wigt, from the start of the tour Getz made no secret of his disdain for Baker, especially his singing. "[He] was like a spoiled child and he was very insecure," Wigt told British jazz writer Mike Hennessey. "He was jealous of the success that Chet was enjoying." And as Hennessey adds, the relationship was aggravated by "what might be described as a conflict of addictions. Getz at this time was drinking heavily and Baker was using heroin. Says McNeeley, 'Stan had a real attitude about Chet's using drugs. Perhaps if they had both been doing the same substance they might have got along better together'." Stan, he added, tried to turn the rhythm section against Baker. When that failed, the tenorman gave Wigt a he-goes-or-I-go ultimatum. "So I paid Chet off, which was a great shame because he had been playing superbly every night," Wigt remembers with regret.