Stan Getz

Stan Getz was born a child of World War Two on February 2, 1927 in Philadelphia Pa. Throughout his child years Getz was always interested in musical instruments. After his junior high school teacher chose him to play the bass in a concert Getz realized that he had a gift that the others in the band didn’t have. By the age of 15 Getz was working as a professional musician playing the tenor sax, like he was born to play one. He started working with many big band leaders such as, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Not only was Jack Teagarden teaching Getz about music and improvising, but he was also teaching him about drinking heavily.

Getz was with Herman’s band “Second Herd” from 1947 to 1949 he became very popular. He was one of the first members of ”The Four Brothers" saxophone section, which included Zoot Simms, Serge Chaloff, and Herbie Steward. In 1948 he became more famous with the recording of "Early Autumn" with the Woody Herman Band

Another recording that Getz made was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim, who wrote most of his (Getz’s) works that were Bossa Novas, was Corcovado (quiet nights of quiet stars). From the first note that Getz plays of this song you can hear his signature airy sound that takes you away. After seeing what the Corcovado looks like the music explains itself. From the top of the Corcovado you can see the rainforest below and it is a totally different place than anywhere you have ever been. Listening to the song bring me to that place once again. The way Getz plays his sax reminds me of the birds soaring above. Getz paints a picture of the scenery with his playing and Jobim made it even more clearly with his lyrics, sung so well by Astrud Gilberto.

In 1969, after a relapse with drugs and getting in trouble with the law again, Stan left for Malaga, Spain and stopped performing for two years. When he returned in 1971 Getz went to New York and started to record what would soon be a great collaboration between a strings instrument and a Jazz musician. This collaboration soon came to be known as Focus.

Throughout the 1970’s Getz started to lead small groups of emerging artists. Some of these artists included Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Jimmy Raney, Al Haig, Steve Swallow, Airto Moreira and JoAnne Brackeen. Although he worked with all these artists he was still not seen very often and he kept to himself.

Getz died in 1991 at the age of 64. He died from terminal cancer from his hard lifestyle that he had become accustomed to. By the time Getz died he had made over 300 recordings. What had set him apart from other tenor saxophonists of his time was his rich and pure tone. He will always be remembered as one of the greatest jazz saxophonists ever.

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