Getz's Focus featured on BBC Jazz Legends

[ejp626]

You learn something new every day. Looking ahead to next Friday, they will be playing the tracks off Stan Getz's Focus and discussing them. Focus is still in print, so that in itself isn't so fascinating, but they are playing three tracks off Mickey One, which is a follow up pairing of Getz and Eddie Sauter. Never heard of it, but it sounds like something I'd like to know about.

Here's Kevin Whitehead's take (from Amazon):

The soundtrack to the 1965 Warren Beatty art movie Mickey One is a little-known sequel to tenor saxophonist Getz and composer Eddie Sauter's superior jazz-and-strings date Focus of 1961. For the film, Getz again improvises his way across Sauter's punchy or lush orchestral charts. (Different takes were used for the LP and the film itself; the CD has both.) Given the dark moods and expressionist visuals of Arthur Penn's black-and-white allegory, however, this is the cheerful Focus's id-driven flip side.

Anyway, in about a week, I can listen for myself and see if this is something I would pick up. If it is anything like Focus, I will, since I think Focus is a great album. Anyway, here's the link:BBC show details

Then go to the Jazz Legends home page and click listen to the latest program. You'll need Real Player. Also, the show can be listened to for a week after it airs.

Edited August 13, 2006 by ejp626

[alocispepraluger102]

You learn something new every day. Looking ahead to next Friday, they will be playing the tracks off Stan Getz's Focus and discussing them. Focus is still in print, so that in itself isn't so fascinating, but they are playing three tracks off Mickey One, which is a follow up pairing of Getz and Eddie Sauter. Never heard of it, but it sounds like something I'd like to know about.

Here's Kevin Whitehead's take (from Amazon):

The soundtrack to the 1965 Warren Beatty art movie Mickey One is a little-known sequel to tenor saxophonist Getz and composer Eddie Sauter's superior jazz-and-strings date Focus of 1961. For the film, Getz again improvises his way across Sauter's punchy or lush orchestral charts. (Different takes were used for the LP and the film itself; the CD has both.) Given the dark moods and expressionist visuals of Arthur Penn's black-and-white allegory, however, this is the cheerful Focus's id-driven flip side.

Anyway, in about a week, I can listen for myself and see if this is something I would pick up. If it is anything like Focus, I will, since I think Focus is a great album. Anyway, here's the link:BBC show details

Then go to the Jazz Legends home page and click listen to the latest program. You'll need Real Player. Also, the show can be listened to for a week after it airs.

i have both on vinyl. they have been among my highest favorites for dozens of years.

mickey contains, mixed in with a polka, some of the darkest most devestatingly beautiful playing one will ever hear..

mickey was recorded very soon after stan's father passed away, and it contains many very rare special moments. i edited some of the dark efforts together and they are stunning. i suspect they were performed consecutively.

about focus, marvelous veteran cleveland saxophonist ernie krivda was, with great difficulty able to retrieve the focus scores, and performed them live at severance hall(with a chamber orchestra)a few years ago. the original score called for a tapdancer in one of the uptempo pieces(i'm late, i'm late), which stan didnt use, and ernie did.

focus and stan getz were very special to ernie, and the playing is hauntingly beautiful. ernie's effort is called FOCUS ON STAN GETZ on Koch, and deserves much wider recognition. his faithfulness to stan's playing is incredible, and he still adds his touch.

Edited August 13, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[chris olivarez]

Is this soundtrack available under Getz's name or will you have to search for it under soundtracks?

[ejp626]

Is this soundtrack available under Getz's name or will you have to search for it under soundtracks?

I think generally it is under Getz's name. Here is a link from CD Universe. CD Universe

I'll probably pick up a copy, but I might as well listen to a few tracks first.

[alocispepraluger102]

Is this soundtrack available under Getz's name or will you have to search for it under soundtracks?

I think generally it is under Getz's name. Here is a link from CD Universe. CD Universe

I'll probably pick up a copy, but I might as well listen to a few tracks first.

check ebay now for at least 2 copies of mickey(one stan getz), if you still do vinyl. one ofering looks like a double lp containing mickey and focus for about $15 u.s.

or google this for several cd's available:mickey one stan getz cd

Edited August 14, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[Lazaro Vega]

Roy Haynes on brushes stood in for the tap dancer on "I'm Late, I'm Late," and the result of him taking those breaks makes for a great Roy Haynes showcase.

[alocispepraluger102]

Roy Haynes on brushes stood in for the tap dancer on "I'm Late, I'm Late," and the result of him taking those breaks makes for a great Roy Haynes showcase.

amen

[paul secor]

Roy Haynes on brushes stood in for the tap dancer on "I'm Late, I'm Late," and the result of him taking those breaks makes for a great Roy Haynes showcase.

Does anyone know if the tapdancer was replaced at the recording session, or was Haynes playing this part decided upon before the session took place? If the replacement took place at the session - any idea who the tapdancer was?

[ghost of miles]

Damn! I've been wanting to do a FOCUS/MICKEY ONE Night Lights for quite awhile... now I'd feel like I was simply lifting from the BBC. (Didn't realize that the MICKEY ONE cd was OOP; I picked it up a few years ago.) I'll try to tune in for this.

[Chuck Nessa]

When I was at the U of Iowa in the early '60s the creative writing classes were all a'twitter awaiting the latest professor, Mr Nelson Algren. The writing classes were held in old metal army barracks and it was tough to get in for one of the 40 seats the first day. We were all greeted with a message on the blackboard reading something like "Not here - Got a chance to fulfill a lifetime dream and play a gangster in a movie - be back in a few days".

That movie was Mickey One.

[alocispepraluger102]

Damn! I've been wanting to do a FOCUS/MICKEY ONE Night Lights for quite awhile... now I'd feel like I was simply lifting from the BBC. (Didn't realize that the MICKEY ONE cd was OOP; I picked it up a few years ago.) I'll try to tune in for this.

...a suggestion ghostly one: when you get around to mickey, pin all the superdepressing pieces end to end, except stick the polka piece somewhere in the middle followed by a somber piece. the effect is incredible. i'll see if i can find the tape i edited together like that a few dozen years ago.

Edited August 15, 2006 by alocispepraluger102

[ghost of miles]

When I was at the U of Iowa in the early '60s the creative writing classes were all a'twitter awaiting the latest professor, Mr Nelson Algren. The writing classes were held in old metal army barracks and it was tough to get in for one of the 40 seats the first day. We were all greeted with a message on the blackboard reading something like "Not here - Got a chance to fulfill a lifetime dream and play a gangster in a movie - be back in a few days".

That movie was Mickey One.

Chuck, I went on an Algren kick a couple of months ago (guess my avatar gives that away, sort of) and read that Algren's creative-writing class at Iowa was a bit of a disappointment... that all he did was talk about Capote's In Cold Blood over and over (this while it was coming out in the New Yorker, before it got published in book form). True story?

Algren's Nonconformity is a hell of a read and maybe more relevant today than ever.

Edited August 15, 2006 by ghost of miles

[brownie]

When I was at the U of Iowa in the early '60s the creative writing classes were all a'twitter awaiting the latest professor, Mr Nelson Algren. The writing classes were held in old metal army barracks and it was tough to get in for one of the 40 seats the first day. We were all greeted with a message on the blackboard reading something like "Not here - Got a chance to fulfill a lifetime dream and play a gangster in a movie - be back in a few days".

That movie was Mickey One.

Chuck, when Algren finally showed up and held classes did he ever mention Simone de Beauvoir? Or Sartre?

Just curious...