Jazz Articles about Stan Getz

Stan Getz: Spring 1976

by C. Michael Bailey
February 8, 2016

The musical specter of John Coltrane is so massive and dense that its creative gravity often does not allow even a whiff of his contemporary saxophone players. While certainly acknowledged as an innovator in his own right, saxophonist Stan Getz rarely gets the attention he deserves as often as many of his contemporaries. That is what makes the magic in these two previously unissued releases from Resonance Records. Getz reminds us here what a commanding presence in jazz he was ...

Stan Getz: I'm Gonna Blow the Walls Down

by Bob Kenselaar
March 20, 2012

[The music that Stan Getz made over the years was consistently moving and powerful. But he was probably putting me on a little when he said he was going to “blow the walls down" in New York for a series of shows early in 1979. When someone gives you a headline like that, though, you go with it. He was a little more straightforward later in the interview when he said, “I'm a thoughtful player. I don't believe in blasting ...

Stan Getz Quintette: Jazz At Storyville

by Chris May
February 25, 2011

Stan Getz QuintetteJazz At StoryvilleRoyal Roost1951 For his casual listeners, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz peaked during the bossa nova craze of the early to mid 1960s. And as Verve's five-disc, 2008 box set, The Bossa Nova Albums, reminded casual and committed listeners alike, Getz and bossa nova were, indeed, made for each other. But anyone willing to rewind through the 1950s will find a cornucopia of less well ...

Stan Getz: Quintets - The Clef and Norgran Studio Albums

by Chris May
February 17, 2011

Stan GetzQuintets: The Clef & Norgran Studio AlbumsVerve/Hip-0 Select2011 A pleasure to handle and a thrill to play, this limited edition box set brings together all the quintet studio recordings made by tenor saxophonist Stan Getz for impresario Norman Granz's Clef and Norgran labels, soon to be rolled together as Verve, between December 1952 and January 1955. The three discs capture Getz's emergence as a small group bandleader newly at the ...

Stan Getz: Apasionado

by Chris May
October 6, 2009

Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz's neo-big band album Apasionado has been consigned to minor league status since its original release in 1990. It does, indeed, look unpromising: recorded in fall 1989, when Getz was undergoing treatment for the cancer which would kill him less than two years later; with a pair of synthesizers replicating a string section; and with the commercially astute but MOR focused Herb Alpert producing.

But 20 years on and rereleased, Apasionado rises way above expectations. ...

Stan Getz: Legacy

by Jack Bowers
August 10, 2009

Here's a pleasant surprise: “previously unissued material" by tenor sax giant Stan Getz that by and large deserves to be more widely disseminated and heard. Legacy is comprised of five sessions spanning the years 1980-86, including three numbers with the Woody Herman Herd and another with Getz and pianist Jimmy Rowles performing Rowles' “The Peacocks." The other seven tracks embody three quartet dates.

While the sound is uneven, as one would expect on such a compilation, the audio's not as ...

Stan Getz: Stan Getz with Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida

by Andrew Velez
August 3, 2009

This is music that may be impossible to listen to while remaining still. The instant Stan Getz and Laurindo Almeida take off with “Minina Moca" ("Young Lady"), the party's on. Although the performances throughout are masterful, nothing is about showboating. This is music of great beauty in a totally relaxed setting. By the 1960s, Almeida was already a veteran of West Coast studio dates and years with Stan Kenton's big band. Kenton first heard the guitarist in ...