Stan Getz Music

This is a DVD version of Rhapsody Films' VHS version of "Jazz at the Maintenance Shop" minus the first two tunes on the Rhapsody Films version ("Morning Glory" and "34 Skidoo"). In other words, Stan Getz is NOT on this DVD, and I don't know why Amazon has labeled it as such. (Amazon, please update your listing info.) It was recorded January 30, 1979, in Iowa (I believe at the University of Iowa). If you search for "Waltz for Debby" on this website, that's obviously a DVD issue of the other volume originally issued on VHS as Jazz at the Maintenance Shop. Audio and video are fine on this version, but I was deceived into thinking it was Evans/Getz at the Antwerp Jazz Festival. This DVD was made in the European Union and is on the Salt Peanuts label.

....should play this over their loudspeakers at least once a day. The residents would soon be mellower, more agreeable, happier, more enthusiastic, more "centered". I'm guessing the medication dosages could even be reduced.

This prescription will work for you, too!

This is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. I disagree strongly with knowledgeable reviewer/Getz fan/punner extraordinaire Le Kang. I own many Getz and many Evans CD's, and this collaboration is magnificent, right up there with Stan's best stuff. Each cut features at least one astonishingly moving, sublime solo by the man known as "The Sound".

This is subtle, restful, tranquil, sexy music played by two masters. It's one of my all-time favorites.

[After writing the review below, I've had a chance to listen to the CD several more times. It's not Bill but Stan who messes up on "But Beautiful". Twice he plays the last 16 bars of the tune when he should be playing the first 16. Either he was shaky on the melody or unnerved by Bill's stonewalling him on the preceding blues. In any case, the 40 minutes worth of music that follows the title tune is definitely 5 stars.]

This is the second and most successful of the recorded musical meetings between two giants. The first was a 1964 studio session that, for various reasons, didn't click; "But Beautiful," on the other hand, is a 1974 European concert recording kept in the vaults until 1995. It's a strong outing by Getz (don't be thrown by previous reviews) but a rather tentative, uneven offering on Bill's part.

There's some extra-musical drama unfolding during the concert. Bill was miffed when Stan, despite earlier assurances, launched into an unannounced, unrehearsed blues, "Stan's Blues," for the second number of the set. As a result, he sat impassively at the piano, refusing to play and even forbidding Eddie Gomez to take a bass solo. Under the circumstances, Getz carries on practically heroically, taking the tune entirely upon his own shoulders and submitting a series of inventive, grooving choruses in F. The next tune is "But Beautiful," and Bill does something I've never heard him do on record: he loses track of the chord progression for the last eight bars of the song during Getz' solo!

After this halting beginning, the foursome settles down, with Bill's trio turning in an uncharacteristically swinging, straightahead set behind the irrepressible Stan, especially on a driving "Funkallero." Then immediately following "The Peacocks" Stan more than makes amends to Bill, offering him a big bouquet of musical roses in the form of an unaccompanied "Happy Birthday" (it was the day of Bill's 44th).

If you're new to Stan, this set certainly offers far more of his tenor mastery than the Verve samba recordings. There's also some good Evans, though the playing by Bill or for that matter his trio is frequently more suggestive of his bop-oriented musical approach before 1959. And contrary to a previous reviewer's recommendations, the best Evans is not on Verve (Bill himself faulted the sound engineering of Rudy Van Gelder). Go to the early Riversides ("Sunday at the Village Vanguard") and the late Fantasies ("The Paris Concert").

Stan Getz and Bill Evans got into the recording studio together one time before, and the outcome wasn't what anyone had hoped for. The two had no chemistry, the tempi were too fast, and the type of beauty that you might expect from the pairing of two of the most melodic players that jazz ever produced just wasn't there.

This album was actually recorded by radio stations in Europe during a concert tour during which Getz agreed to join Evans' usual trio as a "special guest" and the outcome was completely different.

This album is everything that the first one wasn't. Stan's tone is it's most luminous, he and Bill listened to each other and played great together! Highlights include the title track, "The Peacocks", "Emily" and many others. There isn't a bad song on the album, and most of it is everything that you might expect of a pairing of the two.

My only beef with this album is the way that it was recorded. It is way too bass-y, and I have to fiddle with the tone controls every time that I play it. The music is so good that I can overlook the techincal problems, and you should too.

First of all, excuse my horrible and tasteless puns. Do yourself a favor, and don't sink to a lower level by purchasing this album. As both a jazz listener and performer, Getz and Bill Evans are my two favorite jazz artists. This album remains the biggest disappointment out of my entire Getz collection of 20+ CDs; the same goes for my Bill Evans collection. I really don't know what the other reviewers are thinking here. Getz's solos on the disc are clearly uninspired and don't even come close to revealing his uncanny mastery. Obviously, Evans and Getz still play well--but not nearly at the level they do on a host of other albums. Pick up "Getz and JJ at the Opera House", or Bill Evans' double-self-overdubbed "Conversations With Myself". Both are on the impeccable Verve label, and are a far better way to spend your money.

This CD is a perfect example of two great Jazz improvisers at their best. Both artists are thoughtful, lyrical, brooding, moving, and they can swing! One wishes they could have recorded more together, they obviously enjoyed each others musical company! The song selections cover everything from Ballads (But beautful and Emily), to Stan's Blues. At one point, Stan surprises Bill with a surprise Happy Birthday version of "The Peacocks". This is an outstanding album, and is a great example of Jazz at its musical best! One wishes another excellent album: Bill Evans and Jeremy Steig (Flute) would be released on CD.

It is not implied by the album title, but this is in fact a collection of some of Stan Getz's best ballad playing from late in his career (they all happen to be taken from live albums recorded at the Cafe Montmartre) . Ballads are harder than anything else in jazz. The slow tempi and complex chords leave the soloist with little to hide behind, and require the greatest sensitivity and taste to approach correctly. Getz was one of the masters of this elusive and sadly, overlooked facet of jazz music. The performances here; esp. People Time, Soul Eyes, I Remember Clifford and Song for Ruth, can be compared to Cannonball Adderley's Star's Fell Over Alabama, or Miles Davis' Blue in Green and Flamenco Sketches in terms of their artistic beauty and perfection. This is the real deal, the very essence of what jazz is and should always be.

The creative vein and the untiring musical imagination of Stan Getz seemed to shine with majuscule intensity in his last year of life. This album offers Stan not only playing his sax with mesmerizing virtuosity but with a sort of weird intuition the time for him was fading.

For all Stan Getz admirers all over the world, this album must be part of their invaluable collection.

What is characterized by Getz in his last years is his clear expression, his ability to play a story instead of just an atmosphere.

Cafe Montmartre is the name of an old Danish jazz cafe where these songs were recorded. All of them are ballads collected from Getz' albums People Time, Anniversary, and Serenity. Anniversary and Serenity were recorded in 1987 with a band consisting of pianist Kenny Barron, bass player Rufus Reid, and drummer Victor Lewis. People Time is the music from a series of concerts in 1991, not long before Getz' death. The music is full of intimacy, strong expression, and lovely notes. Getz surely lives up to what he himself said: "I never played a note I didn't feel intimately, and I'd like that to be my epitaph."

If you listen to this album more than once, and you'll want to when you hear it the first time, you'll never forget what he tells you. It sure doesn't hurt that the other musicians does a really good job too.

Many of the current flock of compilations of Stan Getz come from earlier music, especially from the 1960's. This group is taken from his last recordings, late 80's-90's, including, arguably, his finest album "Anniversary", and "Serenity" recorded on his sixtieth birthday, at the apex of his abilities, and "People Time" recorded months before his death, some four years after. All were recorded live at the "Cafe Montmartre", one of his favorite venues from his ex-patriot days.

The music is all ballads: breathtakingly beautiful, heartfelt and poignant, deeply expressive, romantic, and sad. Ballads, of course, were his forte. The magnificent "Sound" is still there, as always, but the "Cool", aloof style of his earlier years has been replaced by deep emotional truth. While up tempo songs may are technically difficult, ballads expose the depth of the soul.

While this is a great album and a wonderful introduction to his work, if you like the music here, do buy the original albums listed above. In concert, Stan always offset the ballads with upbeat songs, which made them stand out in relief. I feel they are more meaningful when presented this way.

I should add that Jazz's greatest trumpeter, Miles Davis, everything he recorded is currently available. Sadly for Stan, the Jazz's greatest sax man, the original albums are vanishing to be replaced by a series of overlaping "best of's".

Get the originals while you can. He is the best.

I WAS A YOUNG MAN IN VEGAS WORKING AND LIVING IN LA . I HEARD THE PLAYING AND BOUNCIE ,SMOOTH TONES OF CHET AND IT GREW ON ME.HE HAD TALENT AND WAS SO RELAXED IN HIS MUSICAL DELIVERIES WHEN HE PERFORMED. ALL OF THE WRITEINS THAT ARE SO CRITICAL OF HIS ABILITIES SHOULD NOT LISTEN. OR I SUGGEST THEY TRY AND SING OR PLAY THE HORNS AS WELL AS MR BAKER.