Stan Getz

2 LPs ON 1 CD

When Stan Getz returned to New York early in 1961 after more than two years in Denmark, he found jazz trends in the U.S. had moved towards harder, more aggressive statements, characteristics not found in his lyrical approach. So, in the 1960 readers’ poll, he had slipped from the first place tenor slot he had won every year since 1950. The tide did not turn until 1962, when he and guitarist Charlie Byrd recorded Jazz Samba”for the Verve label. “I didn’t know anything about bossa nova,” Getz said. “The idea developed of making an album of some of these tunes. I just thought it was pretty music. I never thought it would be a hit.”

Yet the album started the Bossa Nova movement in American popular music and Jazz Samba rocketed up the charts and got Getz on to rock-and-roll stations, so that teenagers were listening to the single version of Desafinado, pulled up from the Verve LP. Suddenly, Getz was the only jazz saxophonist in the charts, and Desafinado made the Billboard Top 20 for pop singles and won a “best solo jazz performance” Grammy for Getz. In a culminating irony, he returned to top place in the 1962 Down Beat Readers’ Poll.

Sparked by the Getz-Byrd smash album, the bossa nova trend continued to build with more albums. The first follow-up, Big Band Bossa Nova” with Gary McFarland, was in the charts, too, for several weeks. Yet a year before, Stan Getz had been playing every bit as brilliantly, and as sensitively as in these albums. The difference was his success - and that’s show business.

Sources:
(1 & 17) from the single Verve VK 10260.
(2-8) from the album Jazz Samba (Verve V6-8432)
(9-16) from the album Big Band Bossa Nova (Verve V6-8494)

PERSONNEL on (1-8):

STAN GETZ (ts)
CHARLIE BYRD (g)
KETER BETTS (b)
GENE BYRD (b, g)
BUDDY DEPPENSCHMIDT, BILL REICHENBACH (d)
Recorded at Pierce Hall, All Souls Unitarian Church, Washington D.C., February 13, 1962

PERSONNEL on (9-16):

STAN GETZ (ts)  with Orchestra Arranged & Conducted by Gary McFarland
Doc Severinsen, Bernie Glow (tp) Clark Terry (fkhn); Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb)Tony Studd (b-tp)
Ray Alonge (frhn) Eddie Caine (a-fl) Jerry Sanfin (fl) Arthur “Babe” Clarke, Ray Beckenstein (cl)
Romeo Penque (b-cl) Hank Jones (p) Jim Hall (g) Tommy Williams (b) Johnny Ra (d
Jose Paulo, Carmen Costa (perc)
Recorded at Columbia 30th St. Studio, New York City, August 27 (#13-16), 1962

Joe Ferrante, and Nick Travis (tp) replace Glow and Terry; Willie Dennis (tb) replaces
Brookmeyer; and Walt Levinsky (cl) replaces Beckenstein, who subs for Sanfino on flute
Recorded at Columbia 30th St. Studio, New York City, August 28 (#9-12), 1962
Recorded in New York City, June 15, 1962

TRACKS:

01. Desafinado (Jobim-Mendonça) Hit Single Version 1:59
02. Samba Dees Days (Byrd) 3:32
03. O Pato (The Duck) (Silva-Teixeira) 2:29
04. Samba Triste (Powell-Blanco) 4:44
05. Samba De Uma Nota So (One Note Samba) (Jobim-Mendonça) 6:10
06. E Luxo So (Barroso-Peixoto) 3:41
07. Baia (Barroso) 6:40
08. Desafinado (Jobim-Mendonça) 5:50
09. Manha De Carnival (Morning of Carnival) (Bonfa) 5:46
10. Balanço No Samba (Street Dance) (McFarland) 3:01
11. Melancolico (Melancholy) (McFarland) 4:40
12. Entre Amigos (Sympathy Between Friends) (McFarland) 2:57
13. Chega De Saudade (No More Blues) (Jobim-De Moraes) 4:15
14. Noite Triste (Night Sadness) (McFarland) 4:55
15. Samba De Uma Nota So (One Note Samba) (Jobim-Mendonça) 3:25
16. Bim Bom (Gilberto) 4:30
17. Theme from “Dr. Kildare” (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight) (Goldsmith-Rugolo-Winn) 2:24 (Bonus Track)