Jazz recordings you are considering

[king ubu]

I love the Ornette - too bad he hardly recorded in his last 20 or so years, but there exist live recordings, and it's good to have at least one of them officially released!

[San Antone]

Thanks for the comments. I'm getting ready to drop a shite-load of money on CDs from Amazon. Here are a few more I heard snippets of recently and enjoyed:

Of these three, the Ornette is a clear choice.  Gustavsen is good too, if you enjoy the ECM sound - which I do.

[Mirror Image]

It's hard for me to say too much about these recent re-assemblies or recent live albums from radio broadcasts or tv broadcasts compared to the original albums (which I mostly have) and therefore don't buy compilations - I would say if the sound quality is pretty good, then any Monk from the Sixties is going to be at least decent, although I would go for the Blue Note sides and albums that do not have Charlie Rouse - he was not the right player for Monk.  IN ACTION and MISTERIOSO was his best band.

I wished Johnny Griffin (aka "Little Giant") played more with Monk. A very underrated saxophonist IMHO and much, much better than Rouse.

[king ubu]

I'll say that: Rouse was definitely the right player for Monk, THE right player at the time he joined. Monk wouldn't have kept him for so long if not, I'm quite sure. He's definitely not the inspired soloist that John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins were when they played with Monk, nor is he the quick-fingered, big-toned, soulful musician that Griffin was, but the Monk bands from the sixties were in the pocket to a degree that the earlier units were not. The first two Columbia albums (Monk's Dream, Criss Cross) to me rank with the finest that Monk left behind (which includes the Blue Notes, much of the Prestige, and much of the Riverside output). I'm not *that* big on "Monk." and "Monk Time", but "Straight No Chaser" (I only know the Legacy edition with all tracks restored ... leads to some sameness as you always get theme-ts-p-b-d-theme and the bass solos usually are but some walking, but still, I enjoy hearing the music as committed to disc) and "Underground" I like quite a bit again.

Re: live recordings, "It Club" is wonderful, "Jazz Workshop" a bit less so, "Tokyo" though is great again, as it features the early band with Frankie Dunlop on drums (he who fires up "Monk's Dream" and "Criss Cross" as well - there's at least one Scandinavian concert out on a decent/real label, Storyville, by that band as well ... those Domino/Gambit/RLR things I prefer to get from dime or other sources, they're all as bootleg as it gets).

Then there's the Newport set with Pee Wee Russell coming on stage for two of the four titles - the 2CD complete edition added another, previously unreleased Newport set which is okay as well (though I've not heard it for quite a long time, to be honest).

What's pretty amazing is the 2CD set compiling Monk' Columbia solo recordings, as the initial album itself is the weakest of Monk's solo efforts by far (in my book, the 1954 Vogue album is the best, followed by "Thelonious Alone in San Francisco" which is somehow a very dry and strict album, "Thelonious Himself" which is looser, and then the Columbia) - but the two disc set with all the other studio solo cuts added from other albums, as well as some added rarities, amounts to so much more than a reissue of that album!

What's very attractive, too, is the later large bands - not just "Big Band and Quartet in Concert" (still no proper remaster around of that one, only an early/mid nineties edition), but also - bootleg territory! - the European tour ... there's a fairly common Paris concert from 1967, and the good news is: Johnny Griffin is on board as well!

Re: best tenor soloists with Monk: I found the 1957 Carnegie Hall concert released on Blue Note (LP on Mosaic) revelatory in many ways, up to that point quite possibly the very best we have by Coltrane - and the way him and Monk interact, with the whole quartet in full sync, is plain amazing! The 1958 set released on Blue Note is pretty good but in bad sound (initially released as "Discovery!" in wrong speed and with the 1957 line-up - Wilbur Ware/Shadow Wilson - given, later in the Monk Blue Note 4CD box in correct speed and with date/line-up fixed: 1958, Coltrane jumping in for Griffin, Ahmed Abdul-Malik/Roy Haynes playing, but sound is mushy, so ... you don't hear much detail by the rhythm guys, since otherwise Haynes should be quite easy to recognize anyway).

Griffin, I absolutely love! One of my very favourite musicians! I love "Misterioso" and (a tiny bit less, probably because of repertory) "Thelonious In Action", and I love the bonus material from an earlier Five Spot gig that was added to the CDs. However, I still think he's not digging into Monk's music as deeply as Coltrane or Rollins do (and not as deeply as Rouse does either). But then that's not a big issue at all as he makes good with his enormous amount of ideas and his infectious groove!

[Mookalafalas]

I'll say that: Rouse was definitely the right player for Monk,

+1
  By chance I played Monk's Dream this afternoon, and my first thought was how much I like Rouse.  I think he is the perfect, sobering, counterbalance for Monk.  I love how he says so much with so little, with that big, fat, mellow tone. Griffin is fun and exciting, but for me Monk needs Rouse to anchor his band.

[king ubu]

I think Coltrane really dug in deepest ... but obviously playing with Monk was just a station (a crucial one though, as far as I'm aware by his own admittance, too) on his path, while Rouse was a much less "leader" guy it seems (his few own albums aren't half bad, in fact "Yeah." is pretty darn good! and then there were The Jazz Modes with Julius Watkins, a group that remains fascinating).

[Brian]

+1
  By chance I played Monk's Dream this afternoon, and my first thought was how much I like Rouse.  I think he is the perfect, sobering, counterbalance for Monk.  I love how he says so much with so little, with that big, fat, mellow tone. Griffin is fun and exciting, but for me Monk needs Rouse to anchor his band.

I'm glad to see a pro-Rouse movement here. I don't actually love Rouse's style - so dry - but he is a perfect match for Monk's style, in that way, and he definitely encourages Monk's eccentricity by matching it. The Monk you hear on Rouse albums is willing to go to such weird places, and Rouse will follow him all the way.

My favorite sax pairing is Coleman Hawkins on "Ruby, My Dear," from Monk's Music - because I love the supreme lyricists like Hawkins and Cannonball - but that is a very different experience. Maybe it is a matter of taste. When Monk plays with Hawk, or Clark Terry, or Johnny Griffin, that is a whole different style, where the two forces create a new balance and really bring out the "tug" between Monk's wild side and his romantic melodic gift. Whereas Charlie Rouse and Thelonious, together, often take the song apart as if they're playing with Legos. That's something very special and interesting, too.

BTW king ubu, we really do have similar taste. I just listened to Live at the Jazz Workshop and was feeling it didn't meet the standards of It Club... Tokyo is next on my purchase list, and probably that Scandinavian date too.

[king ubu]

I'm glad to see a pro-Rouse movement here. I don't actually love Rouse's style - so dry - but he is a perfect match for Monk's style, in that way, and he definitely encourages Monk's eccentricity by matching it. The Monk you hear on Rouse albums is willing to go to such weird places, and Rouse will follow him all the way.

My favorite sax pairing is Coleman Hawkins on "Ruby, My Dear," from Monk's Music - because I love the supreme lyricists like Hawkins and Cannonball - but that is a very different experience. Maybe it is a matter of taste. When Monk plays with Hawk, or Clark Terry, or Johnny Griffin, that is a whole different style, where the two forces create a new balance and really bring out the "tug" between Monk's wild side and his romantic melodic gift. Whereas Charlie Rouse and Thelonious, together, often take the song apart as if they're playing with Legos. That's something very special and interesting, too.

BTW king ubu, we really do have similar taste. I just listened to Live at the Jazz Workshop and was feeling it didn't meet the standards of It Club... Tokyo is next on my purchase list, and probably that Scandinavian date too.

Okay, I left out Hawkins ... love his playing (though in the end I'd be a Pres man, if I had to make that impossible choice), but as he was never really part of a working Monk group (the other way 'round it would be somewhat closer to the truth and the four sides Hawkins made with Monk aren't half bad but not Hawk's finest either, yet Monk is quite clearly recognizable in spots!).

Anyway, the Copenhagen disc is this here:

[asin]B0000022J5[/asin]

[Brian]

Thanks!

Yeah, including Hawkins was totally cheating. 

[Bogey]

   

[Mookalafalas]

I actually KNOW I'm going to get this...I just can't decide what to get with it (very cheap from Amazon Italy).

[asin]B003V1ARGC[/asin]

[Mookalafalas]

Actually, my shop has this for $25.  Looks like the way to go, eh?

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Added yet another one to my cart:

[Green Destiny]

I want to get a Stan Getz box - there are 2 I am considering:





The Columbia box is a bit cheaper at the moment - I already have the Best of Two Worlds from this set and love it.
I can only afford to get 1 box - would appreciate any thoughts on which one would be the best to get

[SimonNZ]

^The bossa-nova stuff is fine, but these's much more variety in the second box.

And "The Peacocks" from the album with Jimmy Rawls is alone worth whatever you pay for the whole set.

(I've been meaning to play the Captain Marvel disc again - may do that shortly)

[Green Destiny]

^The bossa-nova stuff is fine, but these's much more variety in the second box.

And "The Peacocks" from the album with Jimmy Rawls is alone worth whatever you pay for the whole set.

(I've been meaning to play the Captain Marvel disc again - may do that shortly)

Hey Simon - I wasn't sure if the first box might be over-doing it a bit with the Jazz-Bossa Nova thing (as cool as it is).
Maybe I will take a hit to the finances and get both boxes im not sure?.
Glad to know the Columbia box has some good albums - I didn't find many reviews of it. Thanks for your input

[king ubu]

^The bossa-nova stuff is fine, but these's much more variety in the second box.

And "The Peacocks" from the album with Jimmy Rawls is alone worth whatever you pay for the whole set.

(I've been meaning to play the Captain Marvel disc again - may do that shortly)

Getz is a huge topic ... the boxes around don't offer his best recordings, I think. Attempting a quick rundown:



Teenage Stan - Getz started out with Woody Herman, "Early Autumn" made him famous - check it out, it's wonderful indeed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrHGpzbLKec

There's more there of course ... but I guess you'd rather look closer upon exploring Woody Herman (which is worth doing).

From this time, there's also a disc compiling his "Complete Savoy Recordings" - 1945-49, starting with a 1946 quartet date with Hank Jones and Max Roach, then a Kai Winding-led session with Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne (1945), and ending with a 1949 date including Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Jimmy Raney, Duke Jordan (more about these below). But this is mostly not prime Getz quite yet, see next paragraph for that.



Early Stan

Getz matured as a musician in amazingly short time (as a human being, I'm not sure he ever grew up though, he seems to have been, as some have said, "a nice bunch of guys") ... Al Haig was his preferred piano player (he shared that with Bird), with him he made some wonderful recordings for Roost in 1950/51, the most famous of them being the "Live at Storyville" ones (1951, with Jimmy Raney on guitar - that Getz/Raney axis is pure magic!), but the earlier studio recordings are wonderful as well - check out "Imagination" for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhJvhte9mU

There's much more there, but the Roost recordings hold a special place in my collection. There was a 3CD set out on Blue Note/EMI/Capitol that is OOP but grab it if you can! In addition, there were several discs out on Fantasy, collecting the Prestige recordings of Getz: "Quartets" (two sessions with Haig, one with Tony Aless), "Prezervation" (with Haig, other that turn up include Raney, Kai Winding, Roy Haynes, Blossom Dearie), "Early Stan" (a Raney date and a Terry Gibbs date, both with Getz, among the other sidemen: Shorty Rogers, George Wallington) and finally "The Brothers", harking back to the Herman days and pairing Getz with Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Allen Eager and Brew Moore, as well as including an early Cohn/Sims collaboration (1952, with Winding and Wallington again, Art Blakey on drums, no Getz there).



This early period went on with a Verve album, "Stan Getz Plays" - again with Raney, but by now Duke Jordan on piano (another Charlie Parker regular). In 1952, Getz founded a new band with Bob Brookmeyer as second horn and John Williams on piano. These Verve quartet studio recordings were compiled by Hip-O-Select, the alas no longer existing Universal boutique label, into a nice 7"-sized book/box, going up to 1954 and closing with the two tracks from 1955 when Tony Fruscella, the wonderful trumpet player, stepped in as Brookmeyer's replacement.



From that same band, there's also "Live at the Shrine" (1954), which again is wonderful. From 1955, there's "Stan Getz in Stockholm" - we're still on Verve there, this was done with a fine swedish rhythm section with Bengt Hallberg on piano. Both of these were part of the Verve "Originals" reissues series.



Mid/late fifties

Then, from 1955-57, Getz made a series of sessions in LA, compiled by Verve as "East of the Sun: The West Coast Sessions" (3CD) - Lou Levy is on piano there, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, Shelly Manne on drums (on the last date, Stan Levey steps in), and the first session also has Conte Candoli on trumpet. Very good music! The original albums (mostly reissued in the "Verve Master Edition") were "West Coast Jazz", "The Steamer", and "Award Winner", some more tracks were on "Stan Getz & The Cool Sounds", which also contains the Fruscella tracks and a few of the earlier band with Brookmeyer.



In the late 50s, Getz was back in Sweden, there are quite a few good recordings with Hallberg or Jan Johansson on piano, if I had to recommend but one, it would be "Stan Getz at Large" (reissued as a 2CD set by Storyville, should still be around).



In those years, Getz was teamed up by producer Norman Granz with many other greats that were on his label Verve's roster: Dizzy Gillespie ("Diz and Getz" and "For Musicians Only" where Sonny Stitt was the third co-leader), Lionel Hampton ("Hamp and Getz"), the "Jazz Giants '58" album with Gerry Mulligan, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Louie Bellson and Oscar Peterson, "Sittin' In" with Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Paul Gonsalves, he also made a somewhat subdued album with the Oscar Peterson trio (the Ellis/Brown edition, no drums), co-headed one of the "At the Opera House" series of albums with J.J. Johnson, teamed up with Chet Baker for a somewhat weird album with a Chicago rhythm section (Jodie Christian on piano), and he paired up with Gerry Mulligan for the later's series of "Mulligan Meets" albums as well (of those, I love the one with Ben Webster most, the Hodges one is pretty great too, the Getz one fine, and then there's the Verve one with Paul Desmond which is amazing, better to my ears than the later Mulligan/Desmond on RCA).



Lest I forget, 1958 also saw Getz with Cal Tjader (Fantasy), and that album is highly recommded, too!



Strings/Voices - "Focus"

In 1960, Getz made "Cool Velvet", an album with strings (arr/cond Russ Garcia) - nice enough, but true magic was to happen on the second one, "Focus" (1961, arr/cond Eddie Sauter). This is a definitive statement of the odd third stream type of music some dudes considered to be a good idea back then ... anyway, there's again a Verve Master Edition reissue of this.



There are some other albums that fit in here without being fo the same class ... "Reflections" (1963, Lalo Schifrin and Claus Ogerman in charge, voices, lush arrangements, some nice music but nothing too deep), "Mickey One" (1965, Verve Master Edition - again with Eddie Sauter and in parts very, very good - this was a soundtrack album for a pretty great film of the same title, btw), "Voices" (1966, again Ogerman).



Also, in 1961 (Verve was sold to MGM in 1962, while Getz was of course not dropped, he made very different albums after that point mostly - the ones just mentioned above) Getz teamed up again with Bob Brookmeyer for the oddly titled "Recorded Fall 1961" with the great Steve Kuhn on piano (Verve Master Edition).



Bossa Nova

There's overlap in chronology there, as you may be aware ... "Jazz Samba" was made in 1962, it's a terrific album and remains a cornerstone ... the next year brought to the fore a few follow-ups, amongst wich "Getz/Gilberto" is the best known, it's great as well, but my favourite is "Jazz Samba Encore" which has Luiz Bonfa on board. Also in that year, Getz met with Laurindo Almeida, who was, a decade earlier, part of the first genuine "jazz meets Brasil" project, headed by Bud Shank ("Brazilliance", Pacific Jazz - no bossa back then of course, but fine music). This is lesser known than the albums with Byrd and Gilberto, but undeservedly so! Already in 1962, "Big Band Bossa Nova" (arr/cond Gary McFarland) was made, a bit of an odd hybrid and I think the least successful of Getz' bossa albums.



1964 brought "Getz/Gilberto #2" (there was a 90s CD reissue with plenty of bonus tracks omitted from the later "Originals" one - moronic "original LP contents only" policy there ... people who want the original LP should buy just that ... and maybe set up their music room as in 1962, have newspapers and fashion and furniture from back then if they want to be in their bubble ...) and another famous one, "Getz A Go Go". By now, Gary Burton as on board, a fine young vibes player who helped re-invogariting Getz ... but I guess that's the next chapter.



Mid/late 60s

That new band with Gary Burton on vibes was a quartet. Initially, Gene Cherico (b) and Joe Hunt (d) completed the line-up, later on, more heavyweight players came in: Steve Swallow (b) and Roy Haynes (d). With the former line-up, besides the 1964 bossa albums, you can try and find "Nobody Else But Me", a very fine live recording.

From and with the later line-up 1966 comes "In Paris" (part of EmArcy/Universal's "Jazz in Paris" series, a series I dearly love).

In 1967, Getz made another great album, "Sweet Rain", with a new, quite heavy band: Chick Corea (p), Ron Carter (b), Grady Tate (d) - reissued in Verve's "Originals" series, highly recommended. This shows that Getz still had his ears open ... to the likes of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis' "second quintet" (from whom he borrowed Ron Carter).

There's a gap then, until 1971 (not sure if that gap's just in my collection or if there's really nothing at all).



The 70s

In 1971, Getz teamed up with the great Clarke/Boland Big Band for "Change of Scenes" (reissued in the limited edition series "Verve Elite Edition", probably hard to find in okay condition, these were digipacks), he also teamed up with Michel Legrand for the less successful "Communications '72" (part of the "Jazz in Paris" series), and he made "Dynasty", a fun live double album from Ronnie Scott's in London, with Eddy Louiss on organ, René Thomas on guitar and Bernard Lubat on drums (an earlier edition contained one more track, but the dumbing down "Originals" reissue left it off again). Getz of course wouldn't get all greasy, but still, this is a wonderful band (check out more Louiss in the "Jazz in Paris" series, and check out anything you can by/with René Thomas, most notably his Jazzland album "Guitar Groove"!)



In 1975 then, Getz signed with Columbia ... that's where the box above comes in (me, I have the French box, "The Worlds of Stan Getz", I think contents are mostly the same, the US one has that bonus disc though, which I miss). To me, it's very much a mixed bag, even more so after the loads of excellent music Getz made before (and after). But "The Peacocks", which is really a Jimmy Rowles album, is wonderful all around, "The Masters" with Albert Dailey on piano is a very solid quartet date, and all of the others have plenty of enjoyable music on them, that's for sure. But none of these form part of a Getz core collection I'd say.



The Eighties - Late Getz

In the eighties, late Getz kicks in ... and he went on to make one beautiful album after the other, many of them live and mostly straight quartet settings - no more experiments. He was still the great improviser he was all his life, and he settled down to playing with fine rhythm sections, headed by pianists such as Lou Levy (remember the sessions in 1957? two Concord albums with him, "The Dolphin" and "Spring Is Here" were coupled on "My Old Flame"), Jim McNeely ("Pure Getz", "Live in Paris/Live at the New Morning") and - probably most notable - Kenny Barron.



With Barron, Getz not only made two terrific quartet albums ("Serenity", "Anniversary", both live and from 1987), but also his final recordings in duo (live in Copenhagen, 1991), which were released in their entirety a few years ago. Sublime stuff, on this box:



The eighties also saw Getz teaming up with Albert Dailey again, for a wonderful set of duos, "Poetry" (Elektra, CD reissue on Blue Note/Capitol/EMI)

[Green Destiny]

Getz is a huge topic ... the boxes around don't offer his best recordings, I think. Attempting a quick rundown:



Teenage Stan - Getz started out with Woody Herman, "Early Autumn" made him famous - check it out, it's wonderful indeed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrHGpzbLKec

There's more there of course ... but I guess you'd rather look closer upon exploring Woody Herman (which is worth doing).

From this time, there's also a disc compiling his "Complete Savoy Recordings" - 1945-49, starting with a 1946 quartet date with Hank Jones and Max Roach, then a Kai Winding-led session with Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne (1945), and ending with a 1949 date including Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Jimmy Raney, Duke Jordan (more about these below). But this is mostly not prime Getz quite yet, see next paragraph for that.



Early Stan

Getz matured as a musician in amazingly short time (as a human being, I'm not sure he ever grew up though, he seems to have been, as some have said, "a nice bunch of guys") ... Al Haig was his preferred piano player (he shared that with Bird), with him he made some wonderful recordings for Roost in 1950/51, the most famous of them being the "Live at Storyville" ones (1951, with Jimmy Raney on guitar - that Getz/Raney axis is pure magic!), but the earlier studio recordings are wonderful as well - check out "Imagination" for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhJvhte9mU

There's much more there, but the Roost recordings hold a special place in my collection. There was a 3CD set out on Blue Note/EMI/Capitol that is OOP but grab it if you can! In addition, there were several discs out on Fantasy, collecting the Prestige recordings of Getz: "Quartets" (two sessions with Haig, one with Tony Aless), "Prezervation" (with Haig, other that turn up include Raney, Kai Winding, Roy Haynes, Blossom Dearie), "Early Stan" (a Raney date and a Terry Gibbs date, both with Getz, among the other sidemen: Shorty Rogers, George Wallington) and finally "The Brothers", harking back to the Herman days and pairing Getz with Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Allen Eager and Brew Moore, as well as including an early Cohn/Sims collaboration (1952, with Winding and Wallington again, Art Blakey on drums, no Getz there).



This early period went on with a Verve album, "Stan Getz Plays" - again with Raney, but by now Duke Jordan on piano (another Charlie Parker regular). In 1952, Getz founded a new band with Bob Brookmeyer as second horn and John Williams on piano. These Verve quartet studio recordings were compiled by Hip-O-Select, the alas no longer existing Universal boutique label, into a nice 7"-sized book/box, going up to 1954 and closing with the two tracks from 1955 when Tony Fruscella, the wonderful trumpet player, stepped in as Brookmeyer's replacement.



From that same band, there's also "Live at the Shrine" (1954), which again is wonderful. From 1955, there's "Stan Getz in Stockholm" - we're still on Verve there, this was done with a fine swedish rhythm section with Bengt Hallberg on piano. Both of these were part of the Verve "Originals" reissues series.



Mid/late fifties

Then, from 1955-57, Getz made a series of sessions in LA, compiled by Verve as "East of the Sun: The West Coast Sessions" (3CD) - Lou Levy is on piano there, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, Shelly Manne on drums (on the last date, Stan Levey steps in), and the first session also has Conte Candoli on trumpet. Very good music! The original albums (mostly reissued in the "Verve Master Edition") were "West Coast Jazz", "The Steamer", and "Award Winner", some more tracks were on "Stan Getz & The Cool Sounds", which also contains the Fruscella tracks and a few of the earlier band with Brookmeyer.



In the late 50s, Getz was back in Sweden, there are quite a few good recordings with Hallberg or Jan Johansson on piano, if I had to recommend but one, it would be "Stan Getz at Large" (reissued as a 2CD set by Storyville, should still be around).



In those years, Getz was teamed up by producer Norman Granz with many other greats that were on his label Verve's roster: Dizzy Gillespie ("Diz and Getz" and "For Musicians Only" where Sonny Stitt was the third co-leader), Lionel Hampton ("Hamp and Getz"), the "Jazz Giants '58" album with Gerry Mulligan, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Louie Bellson and Oscar Peterson, "Sittin' In" with Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and Paul Gonsalves, he also made a somewhat subdued album with the Oscar Peterson trio (the Ellis/Brown edition, no drums), co-headed one of the "At the Opera House" series of albums with J.J. Johnson, teamed up with Chet Baker for a somewhat weird album with a Chicago rhythm section (Jodie Christian on piano), and he paired up with Gerry Mulligan for the later's series of "Mulligan Meets" albums as well (of those, I love the one with Ben Webster most, the Hodges one is pretty great too, the Getz one fine, and then there's the Verve one with Paul Desmond which is amazing, better to my ears than the later Mulligan/Desmond on RCA).



Lest I forget, 1958 also saw Getz with Cal Tjader (Fantasy), and that album is highly recommded, too!



Strings/Voices - "Focus"

In 1960, Getz made "Cool Velvet", an album with strings (arr/cond Russ Garcia) - nice enough, but true magic was to happen on the second one, "Focus" (1961, arr/cond Eddie Sauter). This is a definitive statement of the odd third stream type of music some dudes considered to be a good idea back then ... anyway, there's again a Verve Master Edition reissue of this.



There are some other albums that fit in here without being fo the same class ... "Reflections" (1963, Lalo Schifrin and Claus Ogerman in charge, voices, lush arrangements, some nice music but nothing too deep), "Mickey One" (1965, Verve Master Edition - again with Eddie Sauter and in parts very, very good - this was a soundtrack album for a pretty great film of the same title, btw), "Voices" (1966, again Ogerman).



Also, in 1961 (Verve was sold to MGM in 1962, while Getz was of course not dropped, he made very different albums after that point mostly - the ones just mentioned above) Getz teamed up again with Bob Brookmeyer for the oddly titled "Recorded Fall 1961" with the great Steve Kuhn on piano (Verve Master Edition).



Bossa Nova

There's overlap in chronology there, as you may be aware ... "Jazz Samba" was made in 1962, it's a terrific album and remains a cornerstone ... the next year brought to the fore a few follow-ups, amongst wich "Getz/Gilberto" is the best known, it's great as well, but my favourite is "Jazz Samba Encore" which has Luiz Bonfa on board. Also in that year, Getz met with Laurindo Almeida, who was, a decade earlier, part of the first genuine "jazz meets Brasil" project, headed by Bud Shank ("Brazilliance", Pacific Jazz - no bossa back then of course, but fine music). This is lesser known than the albums with Byrd and Gilberto, but undeservedly so! Already in 1962, "Big Band Bossa Nova" (arr/cond Gary McFarland) was made, a bit of an odd hybrid and I think the least successful of Getz' bossa albums.



1964 brought "Getz/Gilberto #2" (there was a 90s CD reissue with plenty of bonus tracks omitted from the later "Originals" one - moronic "original LP contents only" policy there ... people who want the original LP should buy just that ... and maybe set up their music room as in 1962, have newspapers and fashion and furniture from back then if they want to be in their bubble ...) and another famous one, "Getz A Go Go". By now, Gary Burton as on board, a fine young vibes player who helped re-invogariting Getz ... but I guess that's the next chapter.



Mid/late 60s

That new band with Gary Burton on vibes was a quartet. Initially, Gene Cherico (b) and Joe Hunt (d) completed the line-up, later on, more heavyweight players came in: Steve Swallow (b) and Roy Haynes (d). With the former line-up, besides the 1964 bossa albums, you can try and find "Nobody Else But Me", a very fine live recording.

From and with the later line-up 1966 comes "In Paris" (part of EmArcy/Universal's "Jazz in Paris" series, a series I dearly love).

In 1967, Getz made another great album, "Sweet Rain", with a new, quite heavy band: Chick Corea (p), Ron Carter (b), Grady Tate (d) - reissued in Verve's "Originals" series, highly recommended. This shows that Getz still had his ears open ... to the likes of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis' "second quintet" (from whom he borrowed Ron Carter).

There's a gap then, until 1971 (not sure if that gap's just in my collection or if there's really nothing at all).



The 70s

In 1971, Getz teamed up with the great Clarke/Boland Big Band for "Change of Scenes" (reissued in the limited edition series "Verve Elite Edition", probably hard to find in okay condition, these were digipacks), he also teamed up with Michel Legrand for the less successful "Communications '72" (part of the "Jazz in Paris" series), and he made "Dynasty", a fun live double album from Ronnie Scott's in London, with Eddy Louiss on organ, René Thomas on guitar and Bernard Lubat on drums (an earlier edition contained one more track, but the dumbing down "Originals" reissue left it off again). Getz of course wouldn't get all greasy, but still, this is a wonderful band (check out more Louiss in the "Jazz in Paris" series, and check out anything you can by/with René Thomas, most notably his Jazzland album "Guitar Groove"!)



In 1975 then, Getz signed with Columbia ... that's where the box above comes in (me, I have the French box, "The Worlds of Stan Getz", I think contents are mostly the same, the US one has that bonus disc though, which I miss). To me, it's very much a mixed bag, even more so after the loads of excellent music Getz made before (and after). But "The Peacocks", which is really a Jimmy Rowles album, is wonderful all around, "The Masters" with Albert Dailey on piano is a very solid quartet date, and all of the others have plenty of enjoyable music on them, that's for sure. But none of these form part of a Getz core collection I'd say.



The Eighties - Late Getz

In the eighties, late Getz kicks in ... and he went on to make one beautiful album after the other, many of them live and mostly straight quartet settings - no more experiments. He was still the great improviser he was all his life, and he settled down to playing with fine rhythm sections, headed by pianists such as Lou Levy (remember the sessions in 1957? two Concord albums with him, "The Dolphin" and "Spring Is Here" were coupled on "My Old Flame"), Jim McNeely ("Pure Getz", "Live in Paris/Live at the New Morning") and - probably most notable - Kenny Barron.



With Barron, Getz not only made two terrific quartet albums ("Serenity", "Anniversary", both live and from 1987), but also his final recordings in duo (live in Copenhagen, 1991), which were released in their entirety a few years ago. Sublime stuff, on this box:



The eighties also saw Getz teaming up with Albert Dailey again, for a wonderful set of duos, "Poetry" (Elektra, CD reissue on Blue Note/Capitol/EMI)

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed post - I see you picked out some key albums from each period of Getz career too, that's very helpful!
It will probably take me a while to chew on your post and work out what album(s) I would be best served in getting - I appreciate your input

[king ubu]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed post - I see you picked out some key albums from each period of Getz career too, that's very helpful!
It will probably take me a while to chew on your post and work out what album(s) I would be best served in getting - I appreciate your input

My pleasure! I love Getz' music, and I really think people should look beyond these easy-to-get boxes. The bossa one is essential in the end though I have the discs on their own in mostly older releases, "Jazz Samba Encore" also as a Japanese vinyl reissue ... and as I mentioned I think I'd really miss the - mostly instrumental/jazz - bonus tracks from my older edition of "Getz/Gilberto #2". Anyway, even the bossa box might be somewhat of an overkill as an entry point - and it might pigeon-hole Getz in an unfair way, too.

Alas, as the jazz reissue age has definitely ended (about ten years ago, ever since it's mostly just the PD labels that remain active and I hate them, mostly ... Fresh Sound is probably the one big exception though their (un-)doings are sometimes shady as well), it's not even easy to find reissues such as the "Originals" editions of "At the Shrine", "In Stockholm" ... but for one, "Sweet Rain" is still around and right now part of a "3 discs for 15€" sale at aDE:
http://www.amazon.de/Sweet-Rain-Stan-Getz/dp/B0019F8HSC/

"Focus", in its later "Originals" incarnation, is still around as well:
http://www.amazon.de/Focus-Verve-Originals-Serie-Stan/dp/B000AXZCSC/

The "People Time" box is still around, too - don't hesitate on that! it's cheapest from aIT right now as I see, but not much more expensive on DE:
http://www.amazon.it/People-Time-The-Complete-Recording/dp/B002R7SCOK/

But you might have other options in down under ... the "People Time" box would arrive crushed due to bad packaging, I assume. I hate when that happens (most recently for me with the Busch Quartet box from Warner's), but it's not worth complaining as international returns even for me, when all these (Germany, France, Italy) are neighbouring countries, are a bit of a nightmare.

[Brian]

I know stuff like this is on a public-domain label (Solar), and sound quality can be an issue, but are alternative sources even available for some of these live dates? Many are billed as first CD releases. I am checking on these issues where possible, even finding spare tracks online, to test sound before investing.