What are the essential Stan Getz albums?
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1. Focus
2. Focus
3. Focus
Not necessairly in that order.
Add any recording that includes "Blues for Mary Jane" since all of them were from the one originally on the "Steamer" album.
"Serendipity" contains my favorite recording of "On Green Dolphin Street."
There is a 2 CD Verve set out that captures his style as it evolved over the years.
Particularly just pretty is his "Cool Velvet" with strings.
2. Focus
3. Focus
Not necessairly in that order.
Add any recording that includes "Blues for Mary Jane" since all of them were from the one originally on the "Steamer" album.
"Serendipity" contains my favorite recording of "On Green Dolphin Street."
There is a 2 CD Verve set out that captures his style as it evolved over the years.
Particularly just pretty is his "Cool Velvet" with strings.
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I'm curious about this too, and yeah, I've tried to get into Focus before but the strings and production qualities are just a tad dated or "polyester-era 60's" for me.
What would folks recommend in terms of his more raw, acoustic, straight-ahead jazz? And I'm mainly interested in his pre-bossa stuff as I'm aware of most of this and the later Kenny Barron albums (Anniversary, etc.) which are excellent but which I've pretty much played out.
FYI--
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Getz-Songbook-Stan/dp/B000001DZZ/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1305393954&sr=8-20
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Ha! Interesting that you would use the term polyester for the sixties... more of the tie dye era then. Focus was recorded over a pre-recorded orchestral track laid down by Eddie Sauter and an orchestral assemblage. The part that made it special was that Getz did the entire recording improvisationally and the end result is a series of tracks that totally highlight his iprov creativity at that time. As for dated, the OP asked for vinyl and Getz and that puts everything pre 1990s.
I retract the comment about the Verve 2 CD set since I missed the vinyl reference when I put that down.
If you want to hear straight ahead Getz, definitely get Stan Getz and JJ Johnson at the Concert Hall. This is pur joy and almost totally bop.
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Stan Getz has one of the greatest swing-feels of all time! His time was awesome. I love just about everything he played but my favorites are People Time (duo w/Kenny Barron...get the full box set for a real treat), The Dolphin, Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio, and Poetry (duo w/ Albert Dailey).
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Sweet Rain & People Time
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Back in the vinyl days one of my pet peeves was that I'd have to buy a whole album just to hear one song. This came to mind when one of my fave recordings was of Getz and Bob Brookmeyer doing A Nightingale sang in Berkeley's Square. Today I can just go to iTunes and download the single song. I don't even pay for a no name flip side. If I still had vinyl, though I'd look for that Getz and Brookmeyer album once again.
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Start with the Proper Box Collection of his 1949-1952 stuff...All tracks on all 4 disks are pure genius. And its Cheap, its a must have for any jazz musician or music lover. Period. Don't even hesitate! Yo will not find such a complete collection on vinyl ever, and you will go to the moon and back to find some of the tracks in this very complete box on vinyl
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stan-Getz-Sound..._CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item415963a88e#ht_500wt_1046
Once you have this, most of his 50's and 60 stuff on Verve and other labels is fantastic, awesome and brilliant. I was listening to Getz and JJ Live At The Opera House today, and it still blows my mind after all these years.
Get to the 70's, its a more mixed bag of good and bad, and the 80's is not so much my cup of tea.
That being said, Getz in the 80's still far surpasses 99% of the other stuff ever recorded, its just not nearly as good as the earlier stuff.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stan-Getz-Sound..._CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item415963a88e#ht_500wt_1046
Once you have this, most of his 50's and 60 stuff on Verve and other labels is fantastic, awesome and brilliant. I was listening to Getz and JJ Live At The Opera House today, and it still blows my mind after all these years.
Get to the 70's, its a more mixed bag of good and bad, and the 80's is not so much my cup of tea.
That being said, Getz in the 80's still far surpasses 99% of the other stuff ever recorded, its just not nearly as good as the earlier stuff.
Lots of good stuff here. For me, I'd start with some of the Roost stuff from the 50s. There is a great box set if you can find it. Records like "The Steamer" with some of Getz's unaccompanied and stop time work are lessons in logical, clear and tasteful playing. I actually prefer the Getz/Evans record from the 70's, I think it's under Bill's name and is called "But Beautiful". A live recording with some drop-dead beautiful moments. His stuff with Sauter - "Focus" and "Mickey One" are great examples of Getz's improvisational skill as well as orchestration and arranging lessons. "Sweet Rain" is a killer example of how Stan could deal with the most complex forms and changes with ease. There is a recording from 1982 called "Pure Getz" with McNeely that has some of the most killer modern harmonic language and Stan NAILS it. His final few recordings with Kenny Barron - "Serenity" "Anniversary" and "People Time" are probably some of my favorite recordings on ANY artist, group or genre. So much good Stan...
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