Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz was born in Philadelphia on February 2, 1927. Getz's career in music began when he was only fifteen. Even though he was still a teenager, Getz began playing with renowned trombonist Jack Teagarten in 1943. One year later Getz joined the Stan Kenton big band and in the following year played with Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.
Even
though Getz was playing with the topnames in the business he did not become
well known until he was a part of Woody Herman's Second Herd from 1947-1949.
Together with Zoots Sims, Serge Chaloff and Herbie Steward, Stan Getz made
history as a part of the sax section "The Four Brothers." It was on this album
that Getz produced one of his early masterpieces entitled "Early Autumn."
During the early Bebop period Getz recorded several times in small group settings such as quartets or quintets. These early group recordings evidence the influence of Lester Young on Getz's style. In this excerpt of a 1986 interview with Mel Martin, Getz discusses his early influences: "I never consciously tried to conceive of what my sound should be. I never said, ' I want this kind of sound!' I believe it was because of the bands I played with from the ages of 15 to 22. The first one was Jack Teagarden, who we all know played trombone, but his sound was so great, so...(pause) sort of legitimate, and effortless. I never tried to imitate anybody, but when you love somebody's music, you're influenced. Then I was with Benny Goodman when I was 18 and I believe his sound had an influence on me; such a good sound that he had in those days, you know? And, in-between I heard Lester Young of course, and it was a special kind of trip to hear someone like Lester, who sounded so good and almost classical in a warm way."
Getz's
style in the early 1950s was labeled 'cool jazz' as was Gerry Mullingan and
Chet Baker. This form of Jazz was essentially a more subtle and restricted
form of bebop. In the early 1960s Stan Getz joined forces with Brazilian musicians
such as Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao and Astrud Gilberto creating what is
known today as Brazilian Jazz. This may have been Getz most famous musical
enterprise for which he won two Grammy Awards in 1965. The album, "Getz/Gilberto"
a collaboration of Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto won the prize for Album of
the Year and feature track "The Girl of Ipanema," won the Award for Best Single.
After his experimentation with Bossa Nova in the early 1960s, Getz moved on to acknowledge the post-bop style of playing. In the 1970s he also experimented with Jazz Fusion. Even though Getz was playing different styles of Jazz his personal signature still remained unaltered and he never lost his passion for melodic playing.
Getz
recorded extensively during the 1980s. Among his recordings the albums "The
Dolphin" and "Spring is Here" stand out. In "You're Blase," a song featured
in "Spring is Here" The Sound reminds us that few musicians played ballads
quite as well as he did. Stan Getz continued recording until three months
before his death on June 6th, 1991. Getz lost his battle with cancer at age
64 but his work survives through the extensive documentation of his recordings.
This Biography written by Carlos Lemos and was edited and reformatted by Sean Glass
Biography | Clips | Links | Pictures