Larry Kart Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 "Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson at the Opera House": http://www.amazon.com/At-Opera-House-Stan-Getz/dp/B00000472O/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1366746750&sr=1-2&keywords=getz+opera+house The album combines tracks from two different JATP tour concerts, from 1958 IIRC -- one in Chicago (in mono, and at the Opera House), the other in Los Angeles (in stereo, at the Shrine Auditorium IIRC). IMO the mono tracks from Chicago are superb (they were on the original LP), the interaction between Getz and Johnson quite remarkable, but the Los Angeles stereo performances of the same pieces are only so-so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 I have tried for years to like Getz, who just never, to my ears, plays something that is unexpected; and I don't think this is a matter of some great melodic logic. And I don't want to start a big thing with his daughter again, but I think his playing in many respects is narcissitic, reflecting certain personality traits (and I thought this before I knew anything about him on a personal level). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 No question the Roost material (duh <---) I actually like the earlier quartet tracks better than the iconic quintet ones with Jimmy Raney, but that's just splitting hairs of course. Nothing else I've heard from him touches that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 I have tried for years to like Getz, who just never, to my ears, plays something that is unexpected; and I don't think this is a matter of some great melodic logic. And I don't want to start a big thing with his daughter again, but I think his playing in many respects is narcissitic, reflecting certain personality traits (and I thought this before I knew anything about him on a personal level). I played a couple of gigs with this sax player who said he could tell what type of a person someone is solely by their playing. I mentioned Phil Woods to him, and he said,"Horrible person". I mentioned Getz to him, and he said, "Even worse!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 I have tried for years to like Getz, who just never, to my ears, plays something that is unexpected; and I don't think this is a matter of some great melodic logic. And I don't want to start a big thing with his daughter again, but I think his playing in many respects is narcissitic, reflecting certain personality traits (and I thought this before I knew anything about him on a personal level). I think it's very tricky to work back from what we know or think we know about a musician on a personal level to that musician's playing (or in Allen's example intuit someone's personality from his playing and then have it confirmed by personal contact and/or reliable information later on), a la Stan Getz's "playing in many respects is narcissitic, reflecting certain personality traits." First, there was a period when IMO Getz's playing did sound quite narcissistic, the time around the recording of "Focus" when he often would kind of moo or moan through the horn in a manner I found quite creepy; but that period stands in contrast, again IMO, with most of the rest of Getz's music, while one feels fairly certain that Getz the man was the same "nice bunch of guys" human being throughout his career. Then there's the case of Artie Shaw -- a narcissistic jerk in the very top class, but he pretty much played like angel, so go figure. I once tried in print to read the tea leaves of the relationship between Art Pepper's music and Pepper the person (it's in my book), but I think I failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted April 23, 2013 Report Share Posted April 23, 2013 No question the Roost material (duh <---) I actually like the earlier quartet tracks better than the iconic quintet ones with Jimmy Raney, but that's just splitting hairs of course. Nothing else I've heard from him touches that. Agree, and after the Roost quartets the East of the Sun/West Coast sessions and Getz and J J at the Opera House. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrom Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 (edited) I have not previously contributed to this thread in any of its incarnations, so: My favorite Getz album changes from time to time, but lately it's been Stan Getz Plays, which hasn't been mentioned since 2008. The slightly later West Coast Jazz and The Steamer are right up there, too. But I like a bunch of his stuff, from all different periods (like his solo on "Rattle and Roll" with Benny Goodman). That a musician's personality is reflected in a recognizable way in his music is an idea which would seem to make sense. But it seldom works out that way. The best of Charlie Parker's Mercury/Clef/Verve sides from the 1950s were among his most balanced, serene improvisations - created at a time when his life was spinning further and further out of control. Late in his life, Coltrane seems to have reached a level of spiritual serenity belied by the turbulence of his music at the time. And Miles - I've long had a theory that whatever was good about MIles Davis came out in his music, and pretty much nowhere else. Maybe the same could be said of Getz. (Edited for typos.) Edited April 24, 2013 by jeffcrom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I have not previously contributed to this thread in any of its incarnations, so: My favortie Getz album changes from time to time, but lately it's been Stan Getz Plays, which hasn't been mentioned since 2008. The stightly later West Coast Jazz and The Steamer are right up there, too. But I like a bunch of his stuff, from all different periods (like his solo on "Rattle and Roll" with Benny Goodman). That a musician's personality is reflected in a recognizable way in his music is an idea which would seem to make sense. But it seldom works out that way. The best of Charlie Parker's Mercury/Clef/Verve sides from the 1950s were among his most balanced, serene improvisations - created at a time when his life was spinning further and further out of control. Late in his life, Coltrane seems to have reached a level of spiritual serenity belied by the turbulence of his music at the time. And Miles - I've long had a theory that whatever was good about MIles Davis came out in his music, and pretty much nowhere else. Maybe the same could be said of Getz. Good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quasimado Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I have tried for years to like Getz, who just never, to my ears, plays something that is unexpected; and I don't think this is a matter of some great melodic logic... I tend to agree with Allen. To me, Stan's lines, for the most part, did not go anywhere. The lines of the great jazz improvisors of Stan's time (and before) always contained something of the unexpected, rhythmically and/ or melodically, that when understood in context revealed that they were operating from a different and superior conception... Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I think reading Jeff's post just before turning in last night caused me to dream about seeing 80s Miles at a small Cedar Rapids, IA high school football field ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted April 24, 2013 Report Share Posted April 24, 2013 I know there's often no correlation between a musican's personality and his music; but Getz always struck me as sounding like someone standing in front of the mirror. And he was some of the first jazz I heard, when I was a mere 14, so I definitely had no personal preconceptions. He's slick as pup shit, as they say, but it gets me nowhere (and it may be sound more than anything else because I also cannot listen to Paul Desmond). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 I generally agree that you can't tell what a musician is like solely by their playing, but that musician I mentioned before literally could not listen to many musicians, because he was convinced they were absolute wretches by the way they played jazz. The scary part was that he turned out to be right about some of the musicians (the ones I can remember) he "judged"... Some people have a very different way of seeing (or in this case, hearing) the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) Focus, The Master, Birdland 1952, Diz and Getz, For Musicians Only, Quintet at Storyville, Voyage, People Time, Serenity, Anniversary, Pure Getz, Dynasty, The Peacocks, The Dolphin...Stop me anytime Edited April 25, 2013 by fasstrack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Reynolds Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 my favorites are Focus then Anniversary and Serenity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 Not much I DON'T like by him but the one's I play most often are: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 How can I forget: Abbey Lincoln, You Gotta Pay the Band. Great record, great Stan. I think it was his last studio date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtSalt Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 The Roost sessions I play a lot on Japanese CD remaster volumes 1+2, also the Clef and Norgran albums on the recent Verve box-set, of the bossa-nova stuff only playing the live album with Astrud Giberto Getz Au Go Go these days with a groovy long version of Summertime. A Dutch album from a film, which predicts the whole Jazz FM back-ground music phenomena, but manages to instill all the positive aspects of this, is Forest Eyes from 1980. Well worth checking out. Hasn't been mentioned before on this topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) Many great titles mentioned in this thread. It's a reminder of how great Getz was in all eras. We must not fail to include this gem, though! Focus is a masterpiece. Getz just looked at Eddie's backgrounds once and nailed everything. It came together perfectly. A match of a great writer and one of the all-time pair of ears. For Getz/Sauter completists there's also the soundtrack to Mickey One, a sixties crime drama starring Warren Beatty. Getz plays clarinet and possibly alto on it. Edited April 25, 2013 by fasstrack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 How can I forget: Abbey Lincoln, You Gotta Pay the Band. Great record, great Stan. I think it was his last studio date. Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fasstrack Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 (edited) How can I forget: Abbey Lincoln, You Gotta Pay the Band. Great record, great Stan. I think it was his last studio date. Yes. There was a video made about the making of that date. I've seen it. Getz and others were interviewed. Some of the actual recording was filmed and shown. Don't recall what the circumstances were. May have been a 60 Minutes feature on Abbey. If anyone knows, please chime in. Edited April 25, 2013 by fasstrack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crisp Posted April 25, 2013 Report Share Posted April 25, 2013 The Master Forest Eyes from 1980. Well worth checking out. Hasn't been mentioned before on this topic. Both of these are on this boxed set, where I encountered them recently for the first time. I've never seen them recommended before and they are both, as you say, excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 Weird... I could have sworn I already posted in this thread, but no. Maybe there was another one with the same theme? Anyway, tough to pick one, but I think I'd go with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 I think it's a certainty that we could find naysayers for every single jazz musician out there. Which is fine, nobody will be liked by everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 an overstatement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtSalt Posted April 26, 2013 Report Share Posted April 26, 2013 The Master >Forest Eyes from 1980. Well worth checking out. Hasn't been mentioned before on this topic. Both of these are on this boxed set, where I encountered them recently for the first time. I've never seen them recommended before and they are both, as you say, excellent. I have the French edition of Worlds of Stan Getz and that's where I first encountered Forest Eyes. A shame the quality of the packaging is awful with little protection to the CDs. One album that I doubt will make it as someone favourite Getz album: Stan Meets Chet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.