Another left turn in the listening, this time down Stan Getz Street.
I love Stan Getz. Seriously. He has an amazingly lyrical sense for melody and interpretation, and he also has these super hip chromatic stuff that keeps the music from feeling stale. He rules.
Quartet & Quintet 1950-1951 – This is a French pressing of dates from 1950-51 (hence, the title), starring Jimmy Rainey, Horace Silver, Tommy Potter, Roy Haynes, Al Haig, Tiny Kahn, Teddy Kotick(!), and two cats who are otherwise unknown to me: Joe Calloway and Waly Bolden. It’s a bop-ish date that nicely combines the tempo and harmonic hipness of bop and post bop with Getz’ lyricism. A good set. Silver quotes “La Cucaracha” at one point, and there is an early version of his “Split Kick” on here. Nice prediction of hipness to come. The Teddy Kotick dates were recorded in Boston – didn’t he live here for awhile? There are some great Gigi Gryce tunes on here, and “Mosquito Knees” is a contrafact on “Honeysuckle Rose.” I have always dug “Hershey Bar” – going to have to learn that one someday.
Eloquence – This date is a bit more swing-era, but still great. “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” with Lionel Hampton is a burner, and features everyone’s favorite diminished chord scale trope during the trading at the end. Roy Eldridge is amazing, as always.
Another Time, Another Place – Similar dates as Eloquence, with great Jimmy Rowles, and fantastic Leroy Vinnegar. Shelly Manne and Dizzy Gillespie are also amazing on this record.
Plays the Blues – Incredible Ray Brown on this one.
The Cool Jazz of Stan Getz – Another amazing present from my wife. This record is fantastic, with some of the most wonderful early Bob Brookmeyer and groovin’ Leroy Vinegar to be found. Obviously, Shelly Manne and Jimmy Rowles sound great, too. And is this the John Williams of Star Wars on piano? Note to self: find a chart for “Handful of Stars.”
Focus – I LOVE this record. I have loved this record for basically my whole life, and I can say that because it was in my dad’s collection. Actually, it still is. I picked this up several years ago because it is amazing. Eddie Sauter’s string writing is perfection, personified. [How’s that for superlative?] Getz and Roy Haynes play amazingly on this record. This is one of the first records I ever heard that was Third Stream, and was hugely influential in shaping the music I like (most of which is Third Stream, even if it’s jazz or R&B or something like that…). And for the nerdy, this album could also be called Adventures in Diminished.
Jazz Samba Encore – A really great bossa record, although – and I hate to complain about stuff like this – but I’m just not digging Luiz Bonfa’s guitar solos. The writing is fantastic, though, and Stan sounds great all the way through. George Duvivier is totally great, too.
Getz/Gilberto – The gigantic runaway hit of the bossa craze. My favorite from this time – something I have on CD but not LP – is Getz Au Go Go.
Captain Marvel – And then we pass over my favorite Stan Getz record – Sweet Rain – and get ourselves into the 1970s (I have Sweet Rain on CD). This is a fusion record with Return to Forever (Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira) and Tony Williams. While I like Getz’ adventurousness, and I love the band, it sounds forced to me. Getz just wasn’t a fusion star, and even though I’m happy he did this record, I like it more because of the band than I do because of Getz himself. Corea’s compositions, just like on Sweet Rain, are way too good. But man, I have to say that the tune, “Captain Marvel” is almost as ferocious as the original. Clarke is ridiculous on this, and Tony Williams takes this to a completely new level [I listened to it twice! Ok, and yes, there is a quote in Getz’ solo that’s really cheesy, but aside from that…]. On the other hand, “Lush Life” seems totally forced and arbitrary, which is too bad!
The Peacocks (with Jimmy Rowles) – Now, this is an amazing record! Rowles’ piano playing is so understated (totally the opposite of Corea’s on Captain Marvel), and his singing is so genuine…he has a voice, not a jazz voice, or some other silly concoction, just a voice, one that is true and real, and as a result, sounds better than most. Getz plays great on this record. He’s obviously at home with the material, and in good company. Buster Williams and Elvin Jones are the rhythm section, and wow. Rowle’s tune “The Peacocks” is sublime, better than my favorite (Bill Evans from You Must Believe in Spring) only because this version is by the guy who wrote it. Jon Hendricks sounds fantastic on Wayne Shorter’s “The Chess Players”…Note to self: New favorite tune. The thing about kids these days is that vocalists often come to school with a “classical” voice and a “jazz voice,” which drives me crazy. But, given Rowles’ sound, I can understand why there is a perception that the “jazz voice” must be smokey. But, man, that WAS his voice; not a “jazz” or “classical,” just THE voice.
The Dolphin – I would have loved to have seen this band. They are just really way to great. Lou Levy on piano (who I totally dig), Monty Budwig (who I dig 100% of the time – can’t recall a bad record of him), and Victor Lewis (again, just incredible). The first tune, the title track just…floats. Amazing.
Voyage – I”m sad to be coming to the end of this list. These records are so, so fantastic. Voyage is a great end to the list, but still…I’m sad about being done with Stan Getz records. Having said that, there are still tons of CDs that I have that are incredible, so hey, if I were to add them to the list then I could still hang with Stan records. Be sure to check out his Sweet Rain, People Time, and his fantastic playing on Abbey Lincoln’s album (a personal top 10 favorite), You Gotta Pay the Band. Man, those are great. And on this record, Voyage, George Mraz and Kenny Barron…and Victor Lewis! Incredible.
Enjoy, R.