To Sweden with Love

To Sweden with Love
Studio album by Art Farmer Quartet featuring Jim Hall
Released	1964
Recorded	April 28 & 30, 1964 Stockholm, Sweden
Genre	Jazz
Length	32:41
Label	Atlantic SD 1430
Producer	Anders Burman
Art Farmer chronology
Live at the Half-Note (1963) To Sweden with Love (1964) The Many Faces of Art Farmer (1964)
Jim Hall chronology
Live at the Half-Note (1963) To Sweden with Love (1964) Intermodulation (1966)

To Sweden with Love is an album of Swedish folk music by Art Farmer's Quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall recorded in Stockholm in 1964 and originally released on the Atlantic label. ^[1]

Background and recording

Farmer's account was that his band was touring in Sweden not long after the Swedish pianist Jan Johansson had had a commercially successful recording of Swedish folk songs; a record company official "comes to me and says, 'How about you guys do an album of Swedish folk songs?' I said, 'We don't know any Swedish folk songs.' [...] He said, 'Okay, I’ll get the music'". ^{[2] : 65} The band flicked through the book of songs that the man bought for them and selected some to play at the recording session that had been arranged. One of them, Farmer said, was ""Sw. Folk Song", and so we thought that meant Swedish. [...] We're in the studio, and we had never seen the music before. The guy runs out and says, 'Hey, stop, stop!' I said, 'What's the matter?' He says, 'That's not Swedish, that's Swiss". ^{[2] : 66} The band abandoned that song and went on to record genuine Swedish ones.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[5]

The Allmusic review states "The band's cool and restrained style suits the music perfectly, turning it into jazz without losing its essence". ^[3]

Track listing

All compositions are traditional except as indicated

1. "Va Da Du? (Was It You?)" – 5:24
2. "De Salde Sina Hemman (They Sold Their Homestead)" – 6:13
3. "Den Motstravige Brudgummen (The Reluctant Groom)" – 5:52
4. "Och Hor du Unga Dora (And Listen Young Dora)" – 5:51
5. "Kristallen Den Fina (The Fine Crystal)" – 3:11
6. "Visa Vid Midsommartid (Midsummer Song)" (Rune Lindstrøm, Hakan Norlen) – 6:16

Personnel

• Art Farmer – flugelhorn
• Jim Hall – guitar
• Steve Swallow – bass
• Pete LaRoca – drums

References

1. Art Farmer discography accessed June 20, 2012
2. "Art Farmer: NEA Jazz Master (1999)" (June 29–30, 1995) Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program NEA Jazz Master interview
3. Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed June 20, 2012
4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  76. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 470. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.