He had one of the most beautiful tones in jazz on the horn and was
among the greatest of melodic improvisers.
2 February 1927 – 6 June 1991 (AllMusic)
Courtesy Bernie’s Bootlegs
Stanley Getz was a great admirer of Lester Young, the saxophonist whose singing melodic lines did much to emancipate the jazz soloist from the procession of chords that underpinned the tune. Getz forged a quieter but no less intense style of his own that commanded the admiration of legions of jazz fans for decades.
He found a new and congenial stylistic home for his smooth playing, first with a widely hailed recording with string orchestra called Focus in 1962, and then later that year with a then-little-known Brazilian style called bossa nova. Getz teamed with guitarist Charlie Byrd for the Jazz Samba album, and “Desafinado” (“Out of Tune”) and “Samba de una Nota So” (translated as “One-Note Samba”), both written by Brazilian jazz composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, became major hits. Jazz Samba rose to the top spot on Billboard ‘s album sales chart, the first jazz LP to do so.
An international bossa nova craze quickly ignited, and Getz gave it a second wind in 1964 with the Getz/Gilberto LP, recorded (as was Jazz Samba ) for Verve. Getz teamed with Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud, on the hit single “The Girl from Ipanema.” The combination of Getz’s saxophone and Astrud Gilberto’s plain, deadpan voice proved irresistible, and Getz/Gilberto outsold Jazz Samba. It missed the top spot on the Billboard chart only because it appeared simultaneously with the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night. Getz remained financially comfortable for the rest of his life as a result of these recordings, and though he eventually tired of playing his big bossa nova hits, he established the Brazilian influence as a permanent part of the jazz vocabulary – one of his most significant accomplishments.
For more read his biography
