$200

This album by legendary singer Monica Zetterlund, who passed away six years ago, only 67,  may not be as iconic or famous as the previous “Waltz for Debby” from the year before. But I do hold this LP at least one notch higher. And the cover! What more could you wish for on a front cover?

Monica Zetterlund, standing firmly in great 60’s outfit on this gorgeous cover!

All the tracks on the album are sung in Swedish, although several are translated from other languages. This is almost the perfect vocal jazz album – top songs, top lyrics (for those of us that understands Swedish), top musicians and – of course – pitch perfect singing delivered with a creative panache and suave which is completely inimitable! On the first side there are 6 marvellous songs. The first one is a waltz called Farfars vals (Grandpa’s waltz) written by the legendary jazz composer Lasse Färnlöf (The Chameleon among others) with lyrics by Beppe Wolgers. The second song is a Swedish version of Joao Gilberto’s Chega de Saudade, called Siv Larssons dagbok with the Swedish lyrics by great comedian and intellectual Tage Danielsson, with whom Monica Zetterlund cooperated in many shows. Konstigt (Strange) follows by Torbjörn Lundquist and lyrics by Wolgers again. After that it is time for the absolutely stunning Swedish version of Bill Evans’s Waltz for Debby, called Monicas vals (Monica’s Waltz) with absolutely gorgeous lyrics by Wolgers. En dag i augusti (One Day in August) comes after that by Swedish female schlager composer Britt Lindeborg. The A-side ends with yet another jazzy waltz, this one called Vilsevalsen (“being lost-waltz”) by great bassist/composer Georg Riedel and Wolgers.

Great record with great songs! All Swedish lyrics for the connoisseur

The B-side starts off with a Swedish classic, a poem by Nils Ferlin, melody by Lillebror Söderlundh, called En valsmelodi (A Waltz Melody) and continues with Jag tror på dej (I Believe in You), a Swedish version of Frank Loesser’s song from his musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. The next song is another Lundquist/Wolgers cooperation, När jag vaknar (When I Wake up). Vart tar vinet vägen (Where goes the Wine?) by Riedel/Wolgers follows with another Lundquist/Wolgers original after that, Spela för mej (Play for me). The record’s last song is one of the most covetet Swedish jazz songs of all time, Jan Johansson’s Visa från Utanmyra (Song from Utanmyra).

Original Philips pressing from 1965, highly sought after!

The Philips Studio Orchestra playing on this album is the very best of Scandinavian jazz musicians at the time, which then very much was the European elite, including Staffan Abeleen, Egil Johansen, Rune Gustafsson, Jan Johansson, Lars Färnlöf , Georg Riedel and several others!

The cover is beautiful in every sense, only minor wear on the spine brings it from EX to VG+, really beautiful! The record has been lovingly played several times and has marks and lines here and there. There is some background noise and slight crackles in between tracks but still a very enjoyable VG copy.