Stan Getz

The most interesting collaboration between Stan and Oscar is the album reissued here, which constitutes their only studio album in a quartet format. The absence of drums adds a magical atmosphere to the warm sound of Getz’s saxophone on the ballads, while on the swing tunes, Peterson’s skill with his left hand combined with Ellis’ rhythm guitar work leave no free space for a drummer. Sadly, this album marks Stan and Oscar’s complete recordings within a quartet context. There were a couple of isolated tunes taken from concerts in which drummer Connie Kay was added (making the band a quintet), which captured the feeling of the quartet to some extent.

In fact, the group that made those recordings was a sextet fronted by Getz and trombonist Jay Jay Johnson, during which both Getz and Johnson were each featured on a ballad. Stan’s feature number was usually “It Never Entered my Mind”, and we added a version taken from one of these concerts as a bonus to end this splendid CD.