Anita O'Day Said It

"This fellow came back stage to me and said, 'Hi Anita, I just joined the band.' And I said, 'Hi, good luck in whatever you do,' you know. About two days later he says, 'Would you ask Stan [Kenton] to let me take a solo, please? I want to just take a little solo.' 'Okay, I'll ask Stan.'

“So, I forgot.

“The third night goes by and the fourth night, this new saxophone player comes by and says, 'You said you were going to ask Stan if I could take a little solo--anywhere.' I said, 'I'll do it right now.' I went over to Stan and I said, 'You know this little kid that joined our band, whatever his name is... He's always practicing.'

“And Stan says, 'Tell him he can play the second eight (bars) of the second chorus--on number twenty-six.' Big deal! I go back. I get to tell him. He loves me, he's allahing me, he takes his horn out, Stan says, 'Twenty-six,' and the guy looks over at me. I say, 'This is it, it's you.' His first solo in life. I think. He was only seventeen.

“The number is moving, the first chorus is over. I said, 'Get ready.' He's up there already standing. And finally it's his turn. And he goes dah do dah do dah do dah do. How hot can you get? Dah do dah de dah do dah do. Very boring. His eight bars are over and he took a bow and sat down. That's Stan Getz, folks."

--Anita O'Day, from the video Back to Balboa Highlights: The Kenton Discussions, as quoted in Donald L. Maggin's Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz (1996).