Stan Getz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stan Getz
Getz&BakerSandvika1983a.jpg
Stan Getz in 1983
Background information
Birth name Stanley Gayetski
Born February 2, 1927
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died June 6, 1991 (aged 64)
Malibu, California
Genres
Cool jazz bossa nova bebop
Instruments
Tenor saxophone baritone saxophone
Years active 1943�91
Labels
Verve Prestige
Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 � June 6, 1991) was an American
jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The
Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy,
mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s
with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as "one of
the all-time great tenor saxophonists".[1] Getz performed in bebop and cool jazz
groups. Influenced by Jo�o Gilberto and Ant�nio Carlos Jobim, he popularized bossa
nova in America with the hit single "The Girl from Ipanema" (1964).

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Discography
5 Awards
6 Bibliography
7 References
8 External links
Early life[edit]
Getz was born Stanley Gayetski on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent's Hospital in
Philadelphia. His grandparents Harris and Beckie Gayetski were from the Kiev area
of Russian Empire but migrated to Whitechapel, in the East End of London and owned
the Harris Tailor Shop at 52 Oxford Street for more than 13 years. In 1913, Harris
and Beckie emigrated to the United States with their three sons Al, Phil, and Ben
after their son Louis Gayetski in 1912 (Getz's father Al was born in Mile End,
London, England in 1904 and his mother Goldie Yampolsky in Philadelphia in 1907).

The Getz family first settled in Philadelphia, but during the Depression the family
moved to New York City, seeking better employment opportunities. Getz worked hard
in school, receiving straight As, and finished sixth grade close to the top of his
class. Getz's major interest was in musical instruments and he played a number of
them before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. Even though
his father also got him a clarinet, Getz instantly fell in love with the saxophone
and began practicing eight hours a day.

He attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx. In 1941, he was accepted into
the All City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave him a chance to
receive private, free tutoring from the New York Philharmonic's Simon Kovar, a
bassoon player. He also continued playing the saxophone. He eventually dropped out
of school in order to pursue his musical career, but was later sent back to the
classroom by the school system's truancy officers.[1]
In 1943 at the age of 16,[2] he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band, and
because of his youth he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played along with Nat
King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and
Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in "The
Second Herd", and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists,
who were known collectively as "The Four Brothers", the others being Serge Chaloff,
Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward.[2] With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" and
after Getz left "The Second Herd" he was able to launch his solo career. He was the
leader on almost all of his recording sessions after 1950.

Career[edit]
Getz's reputation was greatly enhanced by his featured performance on Johnny
Smith's 1952 album Moonlight in Vermont, that year's top jazz album. The single of
the title tune became a hit that stayed on the charts for months.[3]

In the mid to late 1950s working from Scandinavia, Getz became popular playing cool
jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first
two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm
section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. A 1953
line-up of the Dizzy Gillespie/Stan Getz Sextet featured Gillespie, Getz, Peterson,
Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Max Roach.[1]

Returning to the U.S. from Europe in 1961, Getz became a central figure in
introducing bossa nova music to the American audience. Teaming with guitarist
Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil,
Getz recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it quickly became a hit. Getz won the Grammy
for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado", from the same album. It sold
over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[4] His second bossa nova
album, also recorded in 1962, was Big Band Bossa Nova with composer and arranger
Gary McFarland. As a follow-up, Getz recorded the album, Jazz Samba Encore!, with
one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonf�. It also sold
more than a million copies by 1964, giving Getz his second gold disc.[4]

He then recorded the album Getz/Gilberto, in 1963,[5] with Ant�nio Carlos Jobim,
Jo�o Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a
Grammy Award. The piece became one of the most well-known Latin jazz tracks.
Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). A live album,
Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed, as did Getz Au Go Go (1964), a live recording at
the Cafe au Go Go. Getz's love affair with Astrud Gilberto brought an end to his
musical partnership with her and her husband, and he began to move away from bossa
nova and back to cool jazz. While still working with the Gilbertos, he recorded the
jazz album Nobody Else but Me (1964), with a new quartet including vibraphonist
Gary Burton, but Verve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with
bossa nova, refused to release it. It came out 30 years later, after Getz had died.

In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea, Tony Williams and
Stanley Clarke, and in this period experimented with an Echoplex on his saxophone.
He had a cameo in the film The Exterminator (1980).

In the mid-1980s Getz worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at
Stanford University as an artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until
1988.[6] In 1986, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. During
1988, Getz worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their Small World album. He
played the extended solo on part 2 of the title track, which became a minor hit
single.

His tenor saxophone of choice was the Selmer Mark VI.

Personal life[edit]

With his granddaughter Katie in 1987 at the Lincoln Center

Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on November 7,
1946 in Los Angeles; they had three children together, Steve, David and Beverly.

As a teenager, Getz had become involved with drugs and alcohol. In 1954, he was
arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy for morphine. As he was being processed
in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly gave birth to
their third child one floor below. Immediately after his divorce from Byrne in
Nevada on November 3, 1956, he married Monica Silfverski�ld,[7] daughter of Swedish
physician and former Olympic medalist Nils Silfverski�ld. They had two children,
Pamela and Nicolaus. The pair lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, partly to escape Getz's
legal problems.

Getz was abusive towards his children and occasionally towards Monica.[8] He filed
for divorce in 1981[8] but the petition was not granted until 1987.[9] In 1990
Monica Getz petitioned the United States Supreme Court to have their divorce
verdict overturned. New York State law required that settlement agreements be heard
in trial court instead of family court. Monica claimed that the law discriminated
against women who, like her, could be bankrupted by paying trial lawyers.[8] The
Supreme Court declined to hear the case.[9] Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since
their time with Herman, once described him as "a nice bunch of guys", alluding to
the wide range of his personality.

Getz died of liver cancer on June 6, 1991. His ashes were poured from his saxophone
case six miles off the coast of Marina del Rey, California, by his grandson, Chris.

In 1998, the Stan Getz Media Center and Library at Berklee College of Music was
dedicated through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.

Discography[edit]
Main article: Stan Getz discography
Awards[edit]
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist or Small Group (Instrumental)
"Desafinado", 1962[10]
Grammy Award for Record of the Year, "The Girl from Ipanema", 1964[11]
Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz and Jo�o Gilberto
(Verve) 1964[12]
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group or Soloist With
Small Group, Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz 1964[10]
Grammy Award for Best Jazz Solo Performance, "I Remember You", 1991[13]
Bibliography[edit]
Astrup, Arne. The Stan Getz Discography, 1978.
Churchill, Nicholas. Stan Getz: An Annotated Bibliography and Filmography, 2005.
Gelly, Dave. Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me, 2002.
Kirkpatrick, Ron. Stan Getz: An Appreciation of His Recorded Work, 1992.
Maggin, Donald L. (1996). Stan Getz. A Life in Jazz. New York: William Morrow. ISBN
0-688-15555-3.
Palmer, Richard. Stan Getz, 1988.
Taylor, Dennis. Jazz Saxophone: An In-depth Look at the Styles of the Tenor
Masters, 2004. (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moonlight in Vermont
Moonlight in Vermont.jpg
Studio album by Johnny Smith
Released September 1956[1]
Recorded March 1952 � August 1953
Genre Cool jazz
Label Roost
Producer Teddy Reig
Johnny Smith chronology
A Three Dimension Sound Recording at NBC with the J. S. Quartet
(1952) Moonlight in Vermont
(1952) Johnny Smith Quintet
(1953)
Stan Getz chronology
Stan Getz at Storyville
(1951) Moonlight in Vermont
(1952) Stan Getz Plays
(1952)
Moonlight in Vermont is a 1956 compilation album by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith,
featuring tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. The material on the album was recorded
between 1952 and 1953, and was drawn from two 10-inch Lps, both titled "Jazz at
NBC", which were previously issued by the Royal Roost label. Titled for Smith's
breakthrough hit song, it was the No.1 Jazz Album for 1956. It was popularly and
critically well received and has come to be regarded as an important album in
Smith's discography, in the cool jazz genre and in the evolution of jazz guitar.
Notable songs on the album, which reveal the influence of Smith's experiences with
the NBC Studio Orchestra, and as a multi-instrument musician, include the title
track and the original composition "Jaguar". The title track, singled out for its
virtuosity, was a highly influential rendition of a jazz standard that secured
Smith's position in the public eye.

Originally released on Roost Records, the album was reissued in significantly

expanded form by Roulette Records in 1994, with more material including a
previously unreleased version of "Jaguar".

Contents [hide]
1 Reception
2 Songs
3 History
4 Track listing
5 Personnel
6 References
Reception[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic (CD Reissue) 5/5 stars[2]
Well-received, the album became the #1 Jazz Album for 1956,[3] a position it
attained, according to the retrospective book Gibson Electrics, as an "overnight
best-seller capturing the essence of the cool jazz era".[4] Critically regarded as
one of the defining albums of cool jazz,[5] it is listed in A Concise History of
Electric Guitar among those few recordings which "firmly established" the electric
guitar's "sound in popular culture, elevating it from the dark dissonance of bebop
jazz to the more consonant textures of a rapidly developing style called western
swing".[6] Guitar World characterizes it as Smith's "classic album".[7]

Songs[edit]
Most notable among the album's songs is the title track, "Moonlight in Vermont", a
rendition of a John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf standard. According to Getz
biographer Dave Gelly, the song became an "unexpected hit",[8] an unusual
occurrence in jazz music,[9] remaining on the charts for months.[10] It was for
this rendition that Smith earned the title "King of Cool Jazz Guitar".[3]
"Moonlight in Vermont" was Smith's breakthrough song, launching him into public
awareness.[11] It also increased the profile of Getz and resulted in his receiving
a contract from renowned jazz producer Norman Granz.[8] Contrary to popular belief,
it was the 1952 release of the single, rather than the 1956 release of the
compilation album, which was Down Beat magazine's number two record of the year[12]

The song is noted for its guitar virtuosity. The New York Times noted that Smith's
arpeggio on the song "went from the lowest to the highest reaches of the guitar,
all in one fluid movement".[13] Echo and Twang characterized it as "complete with
Smith's clear, reverb-tinged sound, his fleet-fingered but relaxed three-octave
runs, and above all his lush, close-voiced, chord melody style".[11] Guitar World
described it as "a perfect illustration of [Smith's] mastery of the guitar's subtle
inner-string voicings".[7]

According to Guitar World, the rendition was influential, becoming "the template
for every guitarist to come".[7] Smith's performance of the song was a favorite of
guitarist Eddie Cochran and first turned Herbie Hancock on to jazz.[14][15] James
Sallis indicates that "[t]he mood of this ballad has never been more subtly
captured".[16]

Also of note on the track list is the song "Jaguar", described by Guitar World as
Smith's "signature song".[7] The book Masters of Guitar singles out the "up-tempo
Smith original" as among the album's "many gems".[9] Several other tracks were
singled out in The Electric Guitar: A History of an American Icon, by A. J.
Millard, who theorized that Smith's playing style was influenced by his history as
a trumpeter and his experiences in the NBC Studio Orchestra, which required
extensive sight reading.[17] According to Millard, in "Moonlight in Vermont" and
"Tenderly", Smith's chord melodies resemble piano, while in "Sometimes I'm Happy"
and "Tab�" the guitar becomes hornlike at midrange, with the electric guitar
resembling a saxophone overall.[17]

History[edit]
Originally released on the Roost Records label, catalog RST-2211, the album has
been subsequently reissued in an expanded CD form in 1994 by Roulette Records, who
had acquired the Roost Collection in 1958. The expanded CD includes all of the
tracks from the original album and incorporates most of the artist's recordings
from that and the subsequent year, with the exception of three songs.[18] One of
the tracks, an alternative take on the Smith-penned "Jaguar", was previously
unreleased.[18] The tracks were also included on The Complete Roost Recordings box
set.

Track listing[edit]
No. Title Length
1. "Where or When" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) 2:24
2. "Tab�" (Margarita Lecuona, Bob Russell, Al Stillman) 2:40
3. "Moonlight in Vermont" (John Blackburn, Karl Suessdorf) 3:12
4. "Jaguar" (Smith) 2:28
5. "Jaguar (alternate take)" (Smith) 2:28
6. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" (Bing Crosby, Ned Washington,
Victor Young) 3:08
7. "Vilia" (Franz Leh�r) 2:40
8. "My Funny Valentine" (Rodgers, Hart) 2:37
9. "Sometimes I'm Happy (Sometimes I'm Blue)" (Irving Caesar, Clifford Grey,
Vincent Youmans) 2:18
10. "Stars Fell on Alabama" (Mitchell Parish, Frank Perkins) 3:03
11. "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) 2:24
12. "Tenderly" (Walter Gross, Jack Lawrence) 3:24
13. "Cavu" (Smith) 2:12
14. "I'll Be Around" (Alec Wilder) 2:44
15. "Yesterdays" (Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern) 2:50
16. "Cherokee" (Ray Noble) 2:46
17. "What's New?" (Johnny Burke, Bob Haggart) 3:04
18. "I'll Remember April" (Gene de Paul, Patricia Johnston, Don Raye) 2:46
19. "Lullaby of Birdland" (George Shearing, George David Weiss)3:03
Tracks 5, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18 and 19 were added on the CD reissue.
Personnel[edit]
Johnny Smith � guitar
Stan Getz � tenor saxophone
Sanford Gold � piano
Bob Carter � double bass
Arnold Fishkind � bass
Eddie Safranski � bass
Morey Feld � drums
Don Lamond � drums
Production

Malcolm Addey � mastering

Michael Cuscuna � reissue producer
Bob Parent � design, photography
Teddy Reig � producer
Patrick Roques � reissue design
Pete Welding � liner notes