Recorded Fall 1961

Read About This Recording

Stan Getz was one of the great tenor-saxophonists of all time. His tone was so beautiful that for a time he was nicknamed The Sound. Getz came to fame while with Woody Herman's Second Herd during 1947-49 where he was featured on a classic recording of the ballad Early Autumn. In the 1950s Getz was one of the most popular of all jazz musicians. After spending 1958-60 living in Europe, he returned to the U.S. and his first recording was this set with Bob Brookmeyer.

Brookmeyer started out as a pianist but was a valve trombonist by the time he initially played with Stan Getz in 1953. Brookmeyer gained some fame during his period as a member of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet (1954-57), he worked with the Jimmy Giuffre 3 and was both a soloist and an arranger with Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band in the early 1960s.

The recorded reunion between Getz and Brookmeyer features the co-leaders blending together quite well and matching wits. They are joined by pianist Steve Kuhn, bassist John Neves and drummer Roy Haynes on three Brookmeyer pieces, Buck Clayton's Love Jumped Out and the standards Nice Work If You Can Get It and A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square. Because Getz would soon gain great commercial success with his pioneering bossa nova recordings, this session is relatively obscure but is quite worthwhile. The two horns constantly inspire each other, creating an underrated straightahead jazz gem.

-Scott Yanow

Extended Article

The way this particular Stan Getz quintet plays together, you'd think they'd been doing it for years. In fact, although the term pickup group sells them short, this was merely a band that Getz put together for an American sojourn in the fall of 1961. In those years, the great saxophonist was spending most of his time in Europe, coming home only for the occasional tour or recording session; he cut the legendary orchestral album Focus during this same visit.

Most importantly, this was one of many memorable encounters between Getz and Bob Brookmeyer, the great value trombonist and composer. The particular triumph of this performance of six tunes (half of them Brookmeyer originals) is that it has the spontaneity of a spur-of-the-moment meeting between two great horns in a studio, but at the same time displays the polish of a band that's had the chance to jell on the road-the best of both worlds.

Contents

Minuet Circa '61; Who Could Care; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Thump, Thump, Thump; A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square; Love Jumped Out.

Stan Getz, Tenor Sax; Bob Brookmeyer, Trombone; Steve Kuhn, Piano; John Neves, Bass; Roy Haynes, Drums.

CD Special Features

Recorded during the same period that Stan Getz was tackling the challenging orchestral music found on his classic album Focus