Stan Getz (2009 Getz Plays Bossa Nova)

One of the all-time great tenor saxophonists, Stan Getz was known as "The Sound" because he had one of the most beautiful tones ever heard. Getz, whose main early influence was Lester Young, grew to be a major influence himself, and to his credit he never stopped evolving.

Simply put, here are the most successful 14 cuts covering two years in the collaboration between Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim, during which both men became accustomed to having hit singles. Unfortunately, only one of them got to ride that horse for the rest of the decade - in the United States, anyway. Nonetheless, this material marks the Americans obsession with the bossa nova and was the music that made Getz and Jobim household names for a while - after all, we were just climbing out of the "swinging bachelor pad" music era and still had all those weird hi fi records to explore. Seriously though, the great sensitivity shown by Getz for this material, and the adventurousness of Jobim were a match made in heaven and would change the faces of jazz and Brazilian pop forever. This is a fine collection for anyone interested in bossa, and Getz in this period as well.

Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and trumpeter Chet Baker never particularly liked each other and, even though they had musically compatible styles, they only worked together briefly in three periods. Their mutual hostility can be felt in subtle ways on this session. Getz ignores Baker's attempt to state the melody of "I'll Remember April" and he plays it himself several bars after. The two horns do not meet at all on the ballad medley and, since Baker sits out on "Jordu," they only play together on two of the four performances. Getz battles a squeaky reed on "I'll Remember April" and Baker seems a bit subpar in general although he really digs in on "Half-Breed Apache" (a very fast "Cherokee"). This effort, which also includes pianist Jodie Christian, bassist Victor Sproles, and drummer Marshall Thompson, doesn't really live up to its potential.