Jane Getz & Charles Mingus

[B. Goren.]

Last week I was abroad and as usual I took some CDs with me. One of the CDs was Right Now (Charles Mingus). This was a great rediscovery. Only two tunes that recorded live on 1964 and emphasize again the genius of Charles Mingus.

The second tune (Meditation) is a masterpiece by all standards. What a great solo of Mingus!!! Unbelievable. The pianist is Jane Getz and she is doing an amazing Job. To the best of my recollection her name does not appear on any of my other CDs so if one of you can tell me what else she has done in her life and where else she can be heard I'll be grateful. And another question: how long has she played with Mingus???

Edited August 28, 2004 by B. Goren.

[JSngry]

She's on Pharoah Sander's ESP album.

[robviti]

i found this on the coleman hawkins neighborhood festival website:

Jane Getz

Lady on a Jazz Journey

You may not know her name but you know her music. Piano diva Jane Getz has been a celebrity’s celebrity in the worlds of jazz and pop and played it all, only to come full-circle to the simple conclusions: "All I want to do is make jazz. Jazz sets me free."

She was a classical piano child prodigy at age six, but she switched from classical music to jazz when she was about nine. "My mother took me to see Billie Holiday at the Hollywood Bowl and I just fell in love with that music."

"Soon I was flipping through radio stations and heard George Shearing and thought, 'I could do that.' I was always improvising on classical stuff anyway."

"Then I heard some Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell recordings and just flipped out. I knew I wanted to be a part of

that mysterious world."

By the time she was 12, her mother was taking her around Los Angeles to sit in with such jazz musicians as drummer Billy Higgins and saxophonist Norwood "Pony" Poindexter, and singer-songwriter Gene McDaniels (of "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" fame).

"Although I was a self-taught jazz musician, there were no barriers for me," Jane says. "Even then, I never lost any bars or turned the time around. I never thought I couldn’t do it. I just knew I could." What she could do was one of the most difficult forms of music to play: improvisational jazz, be-bop.

After growing up in Los Angeles, she left high school at the age of 16 to go to New York. "I knew it was the place to pursue my craft. I knew what I was going to do, and it was okay with my parents when I bought a ticket and boarded the bus."

"Within hours of arriving in the Big Apple, I somehow bumped into 'Pony' Poindexter at a pay phone trying to find a

replacement pianist. I tugged his sleeve and said, 'Hey, man, I can play the gig!' and I performed with him that very night."

"In New York, if you can play well, the word gets around, and it did." Never one to get involved with the wrong people or the drug culture, Jane quickly became known as a serious musician, one of the finest pianists in the hard bop and post bop styles.

"I like shaping musical phrases. And I like to take chances when I’m improvising, get myself in a jam and get myself

out while making it sound easy on the ears. The top cats dug it. They couldn’t believe this little girl could do that."

During her eight years in New York, she worked with a who’s who of jazz, most notably with Charles Mingus, Stan

Getz (no relation), Herbie Mann, Thad Jones, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Grant Green, Joe Williams, and Pharaoh Sanders (with whom she recorded for ESP).

"I worked with the greats. People were very protective of me and I never had a problem."

She also recorded with Jimi Hendrix a few weeks before his death.

In the early '70s, Jane moved back to L.A. ("I got tired of the New York weather and the hectic pace; I was burned out") and became a studio musician, appearing on many rock and pop albums (including Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, The Bee Gees, Dr. John, Van Dyke Parks, Geoff Muldaur, Jimmy Spheeris).

"I brought a jazz sensibility to important rock works," she says. She also signed with RCA Victor as a pop artist under the name Mother Hen (a name given to her by Gene McDaniels) in one of the largest deals of its kind to that time.

After a hiatus from the music business, she began to ply her jazz talents in L.A. in jam sessions and then as a sideman for Earl Palmer, George Braith, Louis Taylor, Sal Marquez, and Wilbur Brown. During the '80s and '90s, she wrote and produced rock songs, many of which appeared on European albums and movie soundtracks. She also built a midi studio in her home.

Today she still lives in L.A., where she performs regularly at local venues and records with such jazz notables as Dale Fielder, Dave Pike, and Chris Colangelo. She plays every Sunday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and has written a book about her journey into the world of jazz.

"I've examined my journey in depth and now I'm ready for new expressions of the gift I have," says Jane. "The next

step is recording more of the music welling up inside of me."

Jane Getz

8185 Laurel View Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90069

(323) 656-7939

[jlhoots]

Thanks jazzshrink.

Most interesting.

[B. Goren.]

Thanks jazzshrink

[B. Goren.]

I still wonder: Mingus recorded Right Now on June (2 & 3) 1964 after the group came back from the European tour. What happened to Jaki Byard? Why did'nt he sit on the pianist chair???

[JSngry]

There was a Prestige 2-fer LP. PORTRAITS, I think it was, where Byard talked about the stresses of working w/Mingus.

That european tour was pretty hectic and stressful from what I've heard, so Byard probably just decided that enough was enough and decided to chill.

[brownie]

Gene Santoro in his Charles Mingus biography 'Myself When I'm Real' has Jane Getz recalling several anecdotes about her stay with Mingus.

At one point, Mingus was so rough on her that Jane Getz thought she had been fired. When she came to work after another incident, Mingus 'pulled two boxes of strawberries, a bright red lipstick and a pair of pantyhose out of a shopping bag' and told her they would be recording that night 'and I want you on the record'.

That evening recounts Santoro, 'a table of blacks muttered about his pianist. He paid their tab and announced, 'They can leave right now.''

The Santoro book says about Byard leaving the Mingus band thathe did not want to leave New York just after getting home. It was Jerome Richardson who suggested the 16-year old Jane Getz to Mingus.

Jane Getz also played piano in several Dale Fielder albums:

http://www.clarionjazz.com/recordings.html

Edited August 27, 2004 by brownie

[B. Goren.]

Very interesting story, brownie.

[Adam]

Wasn't sure of the date on the article above, but Getz still plays in Los Angeles with some regularity. It's not hard to see her.

[sidewinder]

She was listed as appearing on occasions on the Sunday brunches at The Lighthouse when I was there a few years ago. Didn't see her though..

[king ubu]

Very interesting, brownie! Thanks for sharing, and Bentsy thanks for this thread! This album is one of the few of Mingus' 55-64 recordings I don't have yet, maybe the only legit one I miss.

ubu

[Late]

Dannie Richmond and Jane Getz:

[Guest Bill Barton]

Excellent photo! Thanks, Late.

[sidewinder]

She was listed as appearing on occasions on the Sunday brunches at The Lighthouse when I was there a few years ago. Didn't see her though..

Bl**dy h*ll - talk about blast from the past.

[bertrand]

Anybody tried to give her a ring?

Bertrand.

[AllenLowe]

look, it reallyt wasn't that hard to bump into Pony Poindexter, if you know what I mean -

[king ubu]

Who's playing flute on the Mingus album? Clifford Jordan?

Did he ever play the flute, really?

Fun to read three-part excerpt of forthcoming autobiography:

http://www.jazzloftproject.org/blog/guest-bloggers/running-with-the-big-dogs-part-1

(Sorry if already posted elsewhere)

[clifford_thornton]

Oh cool.

She still looks good!

[Rooster_Ties]

From the article...

She also recorded with Jimi Hendrix a few weeks before his death.

Wondering what recordings this might have been? I should probably know, but my big Hendrix phase was 20 years ago, and I'm only just now getting back into that area. (I'll also ask on the Hoffman board; there's guy there who'll know.)

[Rooster_Ties]

Fun to read three-part excerpt of forthcoming autobiography:

http://www.jazzloftproject.org/blog/guest-bloggers/running-with-the-big-dogs-part-1

(Sorry if already posted elsewhere)

Damn, what a fun read. Don't miss parts 2 & 3, they're great.

I'd buy her book in a heartbeat. I'm sure it'd include the Hendrix.

[MomsMobley]

"Go ahead bitch, show me what you can't do."

-- Charles Mingus to, presumably, Jane Getz

from Suze Rotolo's autobiography--

Freewheelin' Mingus

Gene Santoro in his Charles Mingus biography 'Myself When I'm Real' has Jane Getz recalling several anecdotes about her stay with Mingus.

At one point, Mingus was so rough on her that Jane Getz thought she had been fired. When she came to work after another incident, Mingus 'pulled two boxes of strawberries, a bright red lipstick and a pair of pantyhose out of a shopping bag' and told her they would be recording that night 'and I want you on the record'.

That evening recounts Santoro, 'a table of blacks muttered about his pianist. He paid their tab and announced, 'They can leave right now.''

The Santoro book says about Byard leaving the Mingus band thathe did not want to leave New York just after getting home. It was Jerome Richardson who suggested the 16-year old Jane Getz to Mingus.

Jane Getz also played piano in several Dale Fielder albums:

http://www.clarionjazz.com/recordings.html

[Rooster_Ties]

Started this thread for her on the Hoffman board.

Some googling to try and answer my own question about what she recorded with Hendrix revealed that she also recorded with John Lennon, and played with Hendrix very early in his career (perhaps his pre-fame period, maybe?).

Edited April 27, 2011 by Rooster_Ties