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I listened to the Benny Goodman Columbia CD Volume III: All the Cats Join In today, and was struck with how fresh, assured, and imaginative the Stan Getz solos on the album were. The three tracks with Getz solos are "Lucky (You're Right, I'm Wrong)," "Rattle and Roll," and "Swing Angel." They're all excellent. "Rattle and Roll" has long been one of my favorite Goodman recordings - it was in that first box of 78s my grandmother gave me around 1974 - but "Lucky" is the Getz solo that really knocks me out: it has drive, harmonic imagination, and is extremely well-constructed. "Swing Angel" is almost as good, but suffers from being only half as long - eight measures as opposed to sixteen in "Lucky." I don't have the Mosaic Goodman box set, and am unlikely to get it, since I feel that I more recordings than I can listen to. But it has those three tunes, and alternate takes of all. Getz's first solo with Goodman is not on the Mosaic set - "Give Me the Simple Life," from November 20, 1945. The tenor solo is nearly as good as the three I mentioned above, but shows a little rhythmic uncertainly right at the beginning. Are there Getz solos on any Goodman recordings other than the four I've mentioned? In any case, these solos show remarkable talent and originality from an 18-year old.

Here's a recent, new Night Lights program devoted to the recordings that Stan Getz made in the last several years of his life: http://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/late-autumn-stan-getz-198791/ Wish I'd had enough time to work in a track from the album he did with Helen Merrill as well...

Seems this is a new series .... stumbled over it when looking in the internets for some Komeda a few weeks back ... sent in an order (for Vols. 3-8) then with a vendor called merlin.pl (using google translate) - and just picked up my package at the post office and popped in some of the music (first the Komeda disc, now Vol. 3, the first of two with music from the 1962 Jazz Jamboree). Very nice! Vol. 1 - Stan Getz with the Andrzej Trzaskowski Trio, rec. 1960 it seems Stan Getz – saksofon tenorowy, Andrzej Trzaskowski – fortepian, Roman Dyląg – kontrabas, Andrzej Dąbrowski – perkusja. Vol. 2 - Don Ellis with the Wojciech Karolak Trio, rec. at the 1962 Jazz Jamboree Don Ellis – trumpet Wojciech Karolak – piano Roman Dyląg - bass Andrzej Dąbrowski - drums Vol. 3 - Jazz Jamboree '62 Eje Thelin Quintet ( Eje Thelin-trombone, Ulf Andersson –sax, Goran Lindberg – piano, Bjorn Alke –bass, Rune Carlsson –drums) Don Ellis / Wojciech Karolak Trio (Wojciech Karolak – piano, Roman „Gucio” Dyląg –bass, Andrzej Dąbrowski – drums)* Jazz Fraktionen (John Tchicai –sax alt, Max Bruel –sax baritone, Niels Bronsted –piano, Bjorn Alke-bass, Rune Carlsson- drums,) Jerzy Milian Ensamble (Jerzy Milian – vibraphone, Wojciech Lechowski –guitar, Krzysztof Komeda-Trzciński-piano, Tadeusz Wójcik – bass, Leszek Dudziak-drums,) Louis Hjulmand / Wojciech Karolak Trio (Louis Hjulmand –vibraphone, Wojciech Karolak-piano, Roman “Gucio” Dyląg-bass, Andrzej Dąbrowski –drums) *) the one Ellis/Karolak track here seems to be an alternate version of one title also on Vol. 2 (which I don't have yet) Vol. 4 - Komeda Recordings from 1957 (with a sextet plus third streamish arrangements adding english and french horn), a quartet cut (with perc added) from 1959, Bernt Rosengren with Komeda's trio in 1961 doing two short cuts from "Knife in te Water" at the 1961 Jazz Jamboree and "Ballad for Bernt" at the radio studio, and finally half an hour in trio from the 1962 Jazz Jamboree (with Roman Dylag and Rune Carlson) Vol. 5 - Andrzej Trzaskowski This contains two 1962 dates, both in quintet with Zbigniew Namyslowski (as), Michal Urbaniak (ts) as well as trio cuts with various bassists and drummers ... the first half is from the 1962 Jazz Jamboree again, the second was recorded in the radio studio and features a variety of "covers" such as "Saint Vitus Dance", "Sack o' Woe", "Hi-Fly", "Minority" ... Vol. 6 - Jazz Jamboree '62, Volume 02 Kwintetu Andrzeja Kurylewicza, tria węgierskiego pianisty Atilli Garaya z czeskim basistą Janem Arnetem i Andrzejem Zielińskim na perkusji, dwa wokalne standardy zaśpiewane przez Wandę Warską z towarzyszeniem Tria Wojciecha Karolaka, gdańskiego BigBandu Jana Tomaszewskiego, Swingtetu Jerzego Matuszkiewicza, jak również wulkanu energiiNew Orleans Stompers i radzieckiego Vadim Sakun Sekstet . Not too many well-known names here ... but Jan Wróblewski is featured on the 13 minute track by Kurylewicz' Quintet (the leader on trumpet here), Wanda Warska does two songs ("Ill Wind" and "Time After Time") ... for that alone, I guess, the disc should be worth getting (I'll soon know). Vol. 7 - Arrival in Poland As the title says, this is a compilation with performances from various visitors ... for starters, there's four titles by Bernt Rosengren with the perennial favourite Ianci/Jancy/Iansci Körössy (the man with many names), followed by three Körössy trio titles, all from 1961. From the same year, there's one short track by the Lasse Lystedt Quintet (no personel given there, I don't even know the leader), then there are three by the Lars/Lasse Werner Trio, and finally one by a singer called Nora Brocksted doing "Love for Sale" with the Polish radio Orchestra (that last one's from 1962). Vol. 8 - Standards Another compilation here ... Trzaskowskis Quintet (with Namyslowski and Urbaniak) doing "Vierd Blues" by Miles, then The Jazz Rockers (Namyslowsky and Urbaniak with another rhythm section) doing more jazz originals like "Moment's Notice", "Horace-Scope", "Split Kick", "Sack o' Woe", as well as "Lover Man", "Yestedays" and more. Then there's Jerzy Milian doing a short "Solitude", and finally Andrzej Kuryelwicz (again on trumpet) with his group featuring Jan "Ptaszyn" Wróblewski on tenor, doing three standards. These recordings again stem from 1961/62 and were recorded by Polish Radio in Warsaw, Poznan and Krakow. Vol. 9 - Swing, Dixi & Rag This one I hadn't even seen before just now ... it features Albert Nicholas, Emil Mangelsdorff's Swingtet, Dudus Matusziewitz and others ... mostly unfamiliar stuff, but I might go for it eventually, too. Seems the entire series is brand new, all discs give the (P) and © year as 2013. They don't (yet?) turn up on any yurpeen amazon sites or any such, but the cost per disc being 5-6 € when ordering from Poland (from merlin.pl or also from the shop of Polish Radio, though I did the former, as I said), the prices aren't getting steep even with shipping, at least inside ol' yurp.