This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Maybe it’s because most of the big-name pop and rock acts are hibernating. Maybe it’s because I spent the last month swinging to the Rat Pack Christmas album. Or maybe it’s just because they both start with the letters J and A. Whatever. All I know is I always seem to listen to a lot of jazz in January. Looks like this year is no exception — thanks mainly to a cornucopia of cool titles that landed in stores before the holidays. At least four respected labels — Blue Note, ECM, Impulse and Verve — have impressive and affordable new retrospectives or reissues on the racks right now. Even if you don’t know be-bop from doo-wop, I suggest you give one or two a try. Here’s a little primer to help you get into the swing on Stan Getz:
WHO: Quintessential jazzman and tenor saxophone star Stan Getz was dubbed The Sound for his lush, sensual tone — a trademark that helped him score a bona fide pop hit with his bossa nova classic The Girl From Ipanema.
WHEN: Getz got his start as a teenager in the big bands of the ’40s and kept on swinging — and evolving — right up until his death in 1991 at age 64.
WHAT YOU GET: A dozen cuts that cover his long and varied career, from a sweet 1948 side with Woody Herman’s band right up to a Latin-flavoured Night And Day from the year he died — along with Girl From Ipanema and Desafinado, natch. Bonus points for the sophisticated and cinematic Once Upon A Time from his landmark 1961 orchestra album Focus.
WHERE HE FITS IN: As the spiritual forefather of the cocktail nation.
