Stan Getz Music

This CD hits you on the first track and does not let you go.

I admit to having a weakness for jazz duets, be it a horn and a piano, or guitar and piano, or any other combination. This is right up my alley.

The tunes are old chestnuts, wonderful to hear again. And the skills of these two departed giants are extraordinary.

As Stan Getz, the greatest Jazz saxophonist of all time, got older, (and sick with cancer), he decided he wanted to use his considerable popularity to highlight some of the talented but lesser known musicians who had accompanied him earlier in his career. The "Peacocks" album is another example of this. Dailey died a year or so after this long out-of-print recording hit the market.

So he produced this album which highlights Albert Dailey in an intimate session with out the usual drums and bass.

The result is pleasant and listenable. Dailey is quoted as saying he "doesn't like saxophone". Stan is dumbfounded. "Not even Charlie Parker or Coltrane?" he asks.

Dailey His two unaccompanied solo's on the standards "Lover Man" and "Around Midnight" are quite innovative and show a great lyric technique.

Recording quality is good, you can hear the interior lines without the bass and drums. A minor quibble, the sax is close and the piano is a bit too distant. This is worth having and representative of the bulk of Stan Getz's albums, hence my 3 star review, by my tough grading system.

An excellent performance from Stan's late period. The companion to "Blue Skies". The first of the set to be released. The CD starts and ends very fast with the slower tunes in the middle. "Sipping at Bell's" and "Blood Count" I like the best. Balanced between ballads, swing, and bebop tracks.

Technically ravishing recording. At this point in his career Stan is less "Cool", more emotional but his tone is beautiful as ever.

3& 1/2 to 4 stars for a performance that rivals the best stuff Stan Getz ever did.

I just can't believe that I am the first person to review an album issued in 1982. And frankly, post-bop standards don't come any better than this. Yes, there are a few "Samba" and latin collaborations that this artist is better recognized for. But this one doesn't take the back seat to any of those in any way. The combo of McNeely(piano)/Johnson(bass)/Hart or Lewis (drums) form a perfect (read well stretched) canvas for Mr.Getz to paint on. "Tempus Fugit" swings with passion. "Blood Count" showcases the (controlled) lyrical ability of Stan's horn. It's tough to pick out a bad track on this album.

For me, this is Getz at his best. Anyone who likes jazz standards played at the highest level of quality, this is a must for your collection.

Even if Chet Baker has a few downs throughout, both Stan and Chet bring together a wonderful mix. Getz's opening solo on the first track is, by far, his BEST ever! This CD is worth that track. Again - his BEST solo ever. Listen to it over and over - you'll agree that's it's flawless and moving!

Although I've never listened to Baker much I found him fun to listen to on this recording. Sure his voice is strained but he scat sings surprisingly well on But Not For Me and on Just Friends. On both tunes you can really hear the mind behind the trumpet. Mraz, who is usually a fantastic bassist, rushes in several spots but Jim McNeely plays great piano on this recording (what ever happened to him?).

Considering the overall shape both men were in during the 80's this isn't a bad CD to sit back and listen to. Two old war horses playing comfortable tunes with a very good rhythm section.

My two favorite jazz musicians are Chet Baker and Stan Getz. They played their music with such style and coolness that really sets quite an atmosphere.

This CD is one of those albums that satisfies and disapoints at the same time. Getz's solo opening on "I'm Old Fashioned" is probably one of his best latter day solos. Baker's voice is really shaky and the fact that he attempts to Mel Torme (Skat sing) his way through some of the songs when he should of been playing the trumpet is quite annoying.

He does manage some good trumpet work though throughout the CD. Getz really does a good job with his solos but Baker, sadly, doesn't shine so well on the album.

For some really good performances with these two in their prime get the "Stan Meets Chet" album or "West Coast Live". This album is just for the big fans of the two musicians.

dreadful.

Chet Baker is too intoxicated to sing or play on-key. The cover picture will show that Stan is either bored or VERY angry and having to be on stage with this doper. The newly released Stan & Chet in Stockholm is much better, at least Stan's part is.

We realize this is not the Chet of the 1950's--young and minimalist. But somehow the listener is brought into the thinking of Chet's jazz language. Specifically, Just Friends is a masterful example of how a horn player thinks. Baker vocalizes beautifully--as his horn is an extension of his inner voice--in this cut is his inner voice. It's important to realize that the genius of great artists is exposed at the lowest point in life. Baker is seasoned on this album, in a tragic sense, and it does not diminish the artistry.

Shame that very few people could understand difference in , instrumens, that they were played. TRUMPET is THE HARDIEST INSTRUMENT , in every sence, so playing a sax is a realy joke!!
Comparing this two guys, you will obviosly see, master mind of Chet , keeping in mind , above said.

Nine years or so after Getz death and a decade or more after Baker's we are reaching the bottom of their barrel of lost performances by these two lyrical Cool Jazz Giants.

Somewhat better than Quintessence 1, in that the Baker, who seemed in Q1 to be so intoxicated as to be unable to sing on-key, DOESN'T sing here. (don't get me wrong, I like Baker's early singing)

Playing by both seems pleasant and workmanlike but occationally oddly unemotional, burned out and effete, but not necesarily cool. Not either man's best efforts, but not their worst.

I notice than Concord has not seen fit to provide samples of the sound.

Getz arabesque treatment of "Blood Count" stands out, he has played this on many records and it's always intreguing, he never seems to play a song the same way twice. It's a wonder his band was able to so closely follow his ever-changing direction! Stan always seems to know when to play the melodic line and when to improvise. "Conception" which appears on this CD was last recorded by Getz in the very early 50's, as far as I know.

I hope Stan Getz son Steve will continue to try to discover lost Getz masterpieces.

by MY rating system, two & 1/2 ** means listenable but not equal to their best.

This music is too late in the careers of either of the principals to live up to the title of the album, which nonetheless contains some extraordinary playing. "I'll Remember April," one of the best tunes in the American Songbook, has a tendency to limit freedom somewhat because of its insistent, programmatic chord structure. Not so here. In fact, this is a version I'm ranking up there with the Erroll Garner and Clifford Brown-Sonny Rollins recordings of the tune, maybe even higher. Getz lives up to expectations, and Chet beyond them. He's so free and "at home" with the tune that you'd think he was playing on blues changes or a single mode. Not a note is out of place. Nothing is wasted, yet nothing is missed. Somehow he manages to account for every harmonic turn without the least trace of "running the changes." Sublime and exemplary playing by a legend who even at this stage in his career could show he was capable of outdoing himself.

I am surprised at the beating the Quintessence releases have received. Stan and his band are in fine form, so even without Chet Baker this would be a solid CD. True, Chet's contributions are minimal in parts but he gets plenty of opportunities to shine--and Getz rarely steps over him, as many have stated. Perhaps the knowledge of underlying tension between Getz and Baker cause many to not listen with an open mind. That would be a shame, since even though Getz/Baker were not a match made in heaven as it would have seemed, this release is a valuable document of a collaboration that would soon end--much to the dismay of this listener.

This is a great recording.The band is first rate and sounds it! The tunes are all beautiful & the sound quality is very good.Lou Levy does an excellent job with "I'm Old Fashioned" as well as everything else.The rest of the rhythm section is excellent as well.Highly recommended. (VLS)

The ballad half of the live concert "Dolphin". Stan is in top form, with excellent side men. Contains straight-ahead Mainstream Jazz, no Bossa Nova.

I like this a little better than Dolphin but both are great. Songs are a little melancholy, but Stan is at his best here.

Stan Getz, according to his biography, is here free of drugs at last. He is lyrical as always, but now less cool and more emotionally expressive, while never sounding harsh and abrasive like Coltrane. Each note is beautiful. Melted butter.

Blue fog pours out of the sax and hangs in the air! Listen on a single-ended triode!

One of the best of the posthumous CD's. Thanks to his son Steve Getz for finding and releasing it.

Recording quality is state-of-the art.

These recordings are EARLIER in Getz's career, way before Sweet Rain, a completely different period. The sound quality sometimes leaves something to be desired on the live recordings because the original masters have been lost. But Getz could play the 'ell out of Bebop and these are some of his finest early performances.

These performances are also available on the Complete Roost Sessions and remastered -- recommended over this particular edition. Those who are familiar with the entire span of Getz's career will understand the importance and pleasure of these great early performances. These are some of my all-time favorites of Getz's entire career. He's incredibly lyrical and he can be creative no matter at what tempo. Gorgeous, straight-ahead, swinging sounds! The 4 stars are for this edtion. Five stars for the Complete Roost Recordings. Ten stars for Getz's playing.

I love Stan Getz music. see my list of Getz best. But this CD...

A few ballads, but complex Bebop at breakneck speeds are the center of gravity of this album, so it's not as laid back as other Getz albums.
From the very early 50's.

The performances on this album are duplicated, in it's entirety, on the better recorded "Complete Roost Session" 3 CD set, so if you already have that, you don't need this.

Standout songs are "Thou Swell", "The Song is You" & "Everything happens to me".

Sound recorded live with old tape recorders is murky with a lot of jitter. Poor quality mix. Performance a "3" - a "C" - representative of the bulk of Getz in my hard grading system, recording quality "1 & 1/2". Better version of these performances elsewhere.