Stan Getz Music

This is my favorite Getz bossa nova album. Almeida is excellent throughout, and his guitar is better recorded and more up-front than Charlie Byrd's on Jazz Samba.

I don't care for the vocals on Getz/Gilberto, and for me Getz works best without vocalists in any case--he is the vocalist. Almeida also has a voice here that's ear-catching, far more so than Byrd on Jazz Samba. I like Jazz Samba as well, but on this album, the players overall "get" the music a bit better (perhaps because it features more Brazilian musicians than Jazz Samba).

So if you like your Getz bossa nova w/o vocals, I'd suggest you start here and then check out Jazz Samba and Jazz Samba Encore--that has some vocals, but they're very good.

This is another Bossa Nova classic from the master of that style. I agree with previous reviewers that this record is as good as Getz/Gilberto and Jazz Samba. All tracks are sensational with beautiful flowing lines from Stan's sax.

Laurindo Almeida is one of my favorite guitarists. He was a real talent, perhaps in the shadow of some of the other greats from Brazil when Bossa Nova was so popular like Baden Powell, Luiz Bonfa, Joao Gilberto, etc. etc. But here I think he shines brightly with none other than Stan Getz who really was "the Sound".

I can't say it enough - I love this album. Granted, it is very short - just under 30 minutes of music. But in that time you have some tracks that take you to that time, to a summer sunset. Listening to the vinyl though hold's something a bit more special to me, but both formats have all the songs from the feature - the difference being that the CD actually has an additional track - a rendition to "Corcovado". But I love Menina Moca and I think my other favorite is Maracatu-Too. It's almost impossible not to like the bossa in that song, which keeps the track so tight and moving... let alone Stan Getz's guitar layered over the piano and Laurindo's guitar as the notes take off.

Definitely check this one out. I think it's woefully underrated out of all of the great Stan Getz Bossa Nova collaborations. It's purely a matter of taste but it's certainly one of my top two, if not number one (depending on the mood). And if you do like this, check out Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz Big Band Bossa Nova and especiall Getz/Bonfa, which features Luiz Bonfa's wife, Maria Toledo, with stunning & haunting vocals.

Probably anyone who likes bossa nova will like this mid-60s album containing great songs such as the ballad "Winter Moon", the lively, percussive "Maracatu-Too", and the standard "Corcovado". The recording isn't perfect, but it sufficiently displays the tones of Getz' sax and Almeida's guitar. The total time is quite short for CD, about a half-hour, but that's a minor concern considering the quality of the music.

I would have really loved to have a modern CD transfer of this great album, but unfortunately this overpriced Japanese "mini LP" CD is the mono version.

"The Sound", or "Stanley the Steamer" as Stan Getz was known, had a pleasing technique and perfect control of his sax. He was much more popular, that is, sold much more albums than his contemporaries with the possible exception of Miles Davis. He was so popular that many critics of the time, and jealous musicians, dismissed his works as too pop. But behind that apparent ease of play and beautiful, buttered, golden tone is perhaps the greatest sax player of all time, who focused his attention not on innovation or writing but expressive playing. John Coltrane once said, "We'd all play like Getz.. if we could". Beauty, sweetness, tinged with melancholy and sadness, perhaps looking back to better times.

Getz played like he was not playing an instrument but rather as if the sax was an direct extention of his soul. After the drugs, which dogged him much of his life, in his later years he would consciously relax every muscle in his body for a half hour or so and enter a super relaxed yet intensly focused meditative state before he played. So the music would come out smooth and sweet. Infinite control so hard it sounds effortless. And it relaxes us just to listen.

This is a Verve best of taken from some twenty years of albums I love "Early Autumn" a re-do of the song that catapulted a younger Getz to public attention age 20 with Woody Herman's Second Herd. "Symptomes" is the mysterious ballad cut of a otherwise spikey experimental big band album. "Desafinado" and "The Girl form Ipanema" are crossover hits that ignited the Bossa Nova period.

While this is a good introduction to Stan, a survey for the Jazz novice, they are bleeding chunks ripped from other albums, like all best ofs. I can only hope that the listener who hears this marvellous music for the first time will seek out the original albums and hear these pieces where they belong. Most everything by Miles Davis is in print, but everyday more and more spectacular Getz original albums disappear from the market as we descend further into the Musical Dark Ages.

Hear this and if you like it, buy the originals while you still can!

I give this only four stars because many of the original albums these are taken from are better!

The is a collection of some of the best of Stan Getz. It is no wonder he was called "The Sound" in the jazz world. Just be careful; it's so beautiful that it's addictive.

Aside from having one of the greatest records in music history on this sensational album (Girl from Ipanema), Getz's Finest Hour includes a healthy sampling of the great saxaphonist's work.
There are two types of jazz recordings: day and night. This album ("album" itself becoming a quaint term with CDs ruling the market place) includes a smattering of both, the day variety, which are conducive to sitting in your favorite mid-day lounge chair while sipping a cool drink; and the night fare, which are cuts that are best heard in a smokey jazz club in the middle of the night. As mentioned, Finest Hour includes mesmerizing examples of both.
For an admittedly limited sampling one can't go wrong with Getz's Finest Hour it serves as a nice introduction into a musical genius.

Stan Getz without ANY doubt was the greatest saxophone player ever to walk the planet. NO one had that smooth and melodic tune. In fact, this album represent a good balance between very melodic romantic tunes, bossa nova (oh yes) and of course some wild swinging stuff. While I prefer the bossa nova and more mellow tunes, this album represent a good balance and place to begin for any recent or long time Stan Getz fan.

This compliation covers the sax player's best work between 1955 and '71 in only ten selections totalling 60 minutes. As an introduction to Getz, or just as an enjoyable jazz disc, I don't see how it could have been better. Some Bossa Nova is here, of course, but we also get Stan with orchestra, and with pianists, and guitarists, and vibes players. Some of the "name" artists who contribute: Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Connie Kay, Shelly Manne, Charlie Byrd, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Jobim, Astrud Gilberto, Gary McFarland, Doc Severinsen, Hank Jones, Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock, Kenny Clarke and Chick Corea. The star, however, is always Getz. There is a nice balance here of tempo and mood and well-known v. obscure selections. If you like jazz sax in general, Stan in particular, don't miss this one.

Cool aloof and early Stan Getz with his glorious sound!

There is another three CD set of Getz from this period the "Complete Roost Recordings", for $45 or so which more or less duplicates this. This one gets slight nod for the selection and sound (and it's 2 brothers), but if you have "Roost" & Getz "Quartet" you don't need this version, also.

you can only pick between albums by song selection - some are ballads some are upbeat - all are Cool
recording quality is all over the place, frequently primitive

By the way, the "Complete" Roost does not have all of these recordings, despite the title. Roost sound quality is a little better. Song selection is better in this collection, I think.

Cool aloof and early Stan Getz with his glorious sound!

There is another three CD set of Getz from this period the "Complete Roost Recordings", for $45 or so which more or less duplicates this. This one gets slight nod for the selection and sound (and it's brothers), but if you have "Roost" & Getz/ "Quartet" you don't need this version, also.

you can only pick between albums by song selection - some are ballads some are upbeat - all are Cool
recording quality is all over the place

By the way, the "Complete" Roost does not have all of these recordings, despite the title. Roost sound quality is a little better. Song selection is better in this collection, I think.