Stan Getz | |
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.jpg) Getz in 1958 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Stanley Gayetski (1927-02-02)February 2, 1927 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 1991(1991-06-06) (aged 64) Malibu, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Instrument | Tenor saxophone |
| Years active | 1943–1991 |
| Labels | |
Stan Getz (bornStanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an Americanjazzsaxophonist. Playing primarily thetenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol,Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s withWoody Herman's big band, Getz is described by criticScott Yanow as "one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists".[1] Getz performed inbebop andcool jazz groups. Influenced byJoão Gilberto andAntônio Carlos Jobim, he also helped popularizebossa nova in the United States with the hit 1964 single "The Girl from Ipanema".
Stan Getz was born Stanley Gayetski on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent's Hospital inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, United States.[2] Getz's father Alexander ("Al") was born inMile End, London, in 1904, while his mother Goldie (née Yampolsky) was born in Philadelphia in 1907. His paternal grandparents Harris and Beckie Gayetski were originally fromKyiv,Ukraine, but had emigrated to escape the anti-Jewishpogroms toWhitechapel, in theEast End of London.[3] While in England they owned the Harris Tailor Shop at 52Oxford Street for more than 13 years.[citation needed] In 1914, Harris and Beckie emigrated to the United States with their three sons Al, Phil, and Ben, following several siblings that had recently emigrated there. Getz's original family name, "Gayetski", was changed to Getz upon arrival in America.[3]
The Getz family first settled in Philadelphia, but during theGreat Depression the family moved toNew York City, seeking better employment opportunities. Getz worked hard in school, receiving straight A's, and finished sixth grade close to the top of his class. Getz's major interest was in musical instruments and he played a number of them including theharmonica that he acquired at the age of twelve, before his father bought him his first saxophone, a $35alto saxophone, when he was thirteen. He moved on quickly to play all other saxophones, as well as theclarinet, but fell in love with the sound of the tenor saxophone, and began practicing eight hours a day while studying with Bill Shiner, a well-known saxophone teacher in the Bronx.[4] According to Getz, he only had about six months of lessons and never studiedmusic theory orharmony.
Getz attendedJames Monroe High School inthe Bronx. In 1941, he was accepted into the All-City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave him a chance to receive private, free tutoring from the New York Philharmonic'sSimon Kovar, abassoon player. He also continued playing the saxophone at dances and bar mitzvahs. He eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue his musical career but was later sent back to the classroom by the school system's truancy officers.[1]
In 1943, at the age of 16,[5] he joinedJack Teagarden's band and, because of his youth, he became Teagarden's ward.[2] Getz also played along withNat King Cole andLionel Hampton. A period based inLos Angeles withStan Kenton was brief. Following a comment from Kenton that his main influence,Lester Young, was too simple, Getz quit.[6]
After performing withJimmy Dorsey, andBenny Goodman, Getz was a soloist withWoody Herman from 1947 to 1949[2] in The Second Herd, and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists, who were known collectively as "The Four Brothers"; the others beingSerge Chaloff,Zoot Sims andHerbie Steward.[5] With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" in 1948.[6]
After Getz left The Second Herd, he was able to launch his solo career.[2] in 1950, he was a guest soloist withHorace Silver's trio at the Club Sundown inHartford, Connecticut. He subsequently hired them for touring gigs, gaining Silver his earliest national exposure.[7][8] For an unknown period, he didn't pay Silver, using the money due the pianist to buy heroin. Silver finally left in June 1952.[9] In the same period, Getz performed with pianistsAl Haig andDuke Jordan and drummersRoy Haynes andMax Roach, as well as bassistTommy Potter, all of whom had worked with Charlie Parker. GuitaristsJimmy Raney andJohnny Smith were also associated with the saxophonist in this period. He enhanced his profile with his featured performance on Johnny Smith's version of the song "Moonlight in Vermont", recorded in 1952, which became a hit single and stayed on the charts for months.[10][11] ADownBeat readers' poll voted the single as the second best jazz record of 1952.[12] The later albumMoonlight in Vermont, reconfigured from two 10-inch LPs (RLP-410 and RLP-413) for a 12-inch release (LP-2211), was issued in 1956. By 1956,Ben Selvin, bandleader and record producer known as the Dean of Recorded Music, featured Getz's recordings on national radio networks as part of theRCA Thesaurus transcriptions library.[13]
In 1952, Getz signed withNorman Granz for his labelsClef andNorgran Records, which would be consolidated intoVerve Records by 1956.[14] A December 1953 date withDizzy Gillespie found Getz also in the company ofOscar Peterson,Herb Ellis,Ray Brown andMax Roach forDiz and Getz released in 1955.[1] Other notable Getz albums issued by Granz during this time includeWest Coast Jazz in 1955 andThe Steamer in 1957.[15] Getz moved toCopenhagen, Denmark, in 1958.[6] Here he performed with pianistJan Johansson and bassistOscar Pettiford, among others, at theClub Montmartre.[16]
Returning to the U.S. from Europe in 1961, Getz recorded the albumFocus with arrangements byEddie Sauter, who created a strings backing for the saxophonist. In a March 2021 article for theAll About Jazz website, Chris May wrote of it as "one of the great masterpieces of mid-twentieth century jazz" and compared it to the work ofBéla Bartók.[17]
Getz became involved in introducingbossa nova music to the American audience[2] teaming with guitaristCharlie Byrd, who had just returned from aU.S. State Department tour of Brazil. In 1962, they recorded the albumJazz Samba featuring their cover ofAntonio Carlos Jobim's "Desafinado" which became a hit and won Getz theGrammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963. It sold more than one million copies, and was awarded agold record.[18] His second bossa nova album, also recorded in 1962, wasBig Band Bossa Nova with composer and arrangerGary McFarland. As a follow-up toJazz Samba, Getz recorded the albumJazz Samba Encore!, with one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitaristLuiz Bonfá. It also sold more than a million copies by 1964, giving Getz his second gold disc.[18]
He then recorded the albumGetz/Gilberto, in 1963,[19] withJoão Gilberto, his wifeAstrud, andAntônio Carlos Jobim. A single from the album, "The Girl from Ipanema" became a hit (1964) and won aGrammy Award.Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). Getz and producerCreed Taylor claimed that the music's success was a result of their discovery of the talent of Astrud Gilberto, who had never recorded as a vocalist. She and Gilberto and later their son, Marcelo, disputed Getz and Taylor's version of the story, and alleged that Getz contrived it to deprive her of the royalties she was due.[20]
A live album,Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed, as didGetz Au Go Go (1964), a live recording at theCafe au Go Go in New York City. While working with the Gilbertos, he recorded the jazz albumNobody Else But Me (1964), with a new quartet includingvibraphonistGary Burton, butVerve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with bossa nova, refused to release it until 30 years later, after Getz had died.
In 1972, Getz recorded the jazz fusion albumCaptain Marvel withChick Corea,Stanley Clarke andTony Williams, and in this period experimented with anEchoplex on his saxophone. He had a cameo in the filmThe Exterminator (1980).
In the mid-1980s, Getz worked regularly in the San Francisco Bay area and taught atStanford University as an artist-in-residence at theStanford Jazz Workshop until 1988. In 1986, he was inducted into theDownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. During 1988, Getz worked withHuey Lewis and the News on theirSmall World album. He played the extended solo on part 2 of the title track, which became a minor hit single.
His tenor saxophone of choice was theSelmer Mark VI.
Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with theGene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946, in Los Angeles; the couple had three children.[citation needed]
In 1954, Getz held up a Seattle drugstore to obtain narcotics for his heroin addiction. After his arrest he attempted suicide by overdose. He suffered from drug and alcohol dependency on and off for decades. In 1983, he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly.[21]
Getz divorced Byrne in Mexico in 1956, after which, due to Byrne's own addictions, she was unable to take care of the children. Eventually, the children were awarded by the Court to Getz's second wife, Monica Silfverskiöld,[22] daughter of Swedish physician and former Olympic medalistNils Silfverskiöld and Swedish CountessMary von Rosen. Monica had insisted on raising the family together, as children had been divided among family members, and eventually they raised five children: Steven, David, and Beverley (children of Stan and Beverly); and Pamela and Nicolaus (children of Stan and Monica). The couple lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, partly to escape the prevalence of drugs in America at the time. Monica would also become Stan's manager and a major influence in his life.
In 1962, Monica returned with the family to Sweden after having discovered Stan's recurring addictions. During the following period, as he was trying to persuade her to come back, he sent her two test pressings, one of which,Jazz Samba withCharlie Byrd, was pivotal to her plans for the next record,Getz/Gilberto. However, Getz's association with Byrd soured, due to a lawsuit that Byrd initiated against the record company.[23]
After Getz promised to stay clean and sober, Monica returned from Sweden with the family. On November 21, 1962, Brazil sent scores of musicians toCarnegie Hall[24] as a result of thebossa nova craze created byJazz Samba.[25] After being told by Gilberto and Jobim that Getz had been an invisible partner in their creating of the Bossa Nova by superimposing Getz's jazz harmonies and sound on the old samba, Monica suggested a unification of the three.Jobim andGilberto reacted with deference and enthusiasm. Getz was reluctant, at first, as he had heard the two were "difficult". Getz had reportedly said that he was convinced when Monica retorted: "Well, don'tyou have a reputation for being difficult?" They would become very close friends during the recording ofGetz/Gilberto, and Gilberto would even move in with the Getzes, occasionally joined by the children of his own two marriages and his second wife,Miúcha.
In the early 1980s, Getz again relapsed into his addictions, resulting in an arrest with an illegal gun in the home with Monica and some of the children. This resulted in anOrder of Protection, issued in her favor, which contained a clause that Getz must be sober to be allowed into the house and anOrder to go to treatment. As a countermove, Getz filed for divorce from Monica in 1981,[26] but the couple reconciled at his insistence in 1982 and signed a Reconciliation Agreement in which they agreed to jointly buy a house they had found inSan Francisco. Soon after, however, Getz relapsed. After a second illegal gun and cocaine incident, Monica returned to their New York home. At this time, she discovered the need for the courts to learn about addiction and founded the National Coalition for Family Justice[27] in 1988, around the time a divorce was finalized. In 1990, Monica Getz petitioned theUnited States Supreme Court to have their divorce verdict overturned, which it declined.[6] In 1987, he was diagnosed with cancer.[6]
Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since their time with Herman, once described him as "a nice bunch of guys", an allusion to his unpredictable personality.[6]Bob Brookmeyer, another performing colleague, responded to speculation Getz had a heart operation with therhetorical question "Did they put one in?"[20]
Getz died ofliver cancer on June 6, 1991.[28][4] His ashes were poured from his saxophone case six miles off the coast ofMarina del Rey, California.
Media related toStan Getz at Wikimedia Commons
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