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Stan Getz in the 50's


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Before the bossa nova recordings — what a great run. What are your favorite recordings from this period? The Roost recordings are great, but I thought we could look at the Norgran/Verves. Have all the Interpretations sessions been reissued on compact disc?

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I love the West Coast 3CD set, but then there are quite some gaps in my Getz Verve 50s holdings. The cuts with Fruscella (on the Cool Sounds album, part of which are also on the West Coast set) are marvellous as well.

The Brookmeyer sessions are out on Lonehill but that would make a lovely Mosaic Select...

The meeting with Mulligan is ok, but not that great (Mulligan's meetings with Hodges, Desmond - both Verve and RCA - and Webster are better, in my opinion).

Then, what else? Plays? Does that count? In my Getz categorisation, it belongs to the Raney/Haig/Jordan/Silver early sessions... except for the bonus tracks with Jimmy Rowles & Max Roach - great ones!

Then the jams/concerts, Diz & Getz (fine!), J.J./Getz at the Opera House (ok, but never really won me over) - there are more that I haven't heard...

What else is there, what am I missing? (Getz in Sweden is one I'm aware of, also Getz/Peterson and Getz/Hamp...)

The Fall 1960 VME with Brookmeyer, I know of, haven't come around getting it.

Also the the 60s sessions with Gary Burton (the live album is in the Jazz in Paris series, another one was released in that all too short-lived Verve Discoveries series) are mighty fine, but they're from later years.

Indeed a mighty fine bunch of recordings!

How would Getz fit in with the recent "Verve was so conservative" discussion? His Roost recordings have an absolute freshness to them, maybe the 50s sessions are already more "classicist" in comparison? Somehow Getz seems to evade classifications, I wouldn't call him a bop musician, but then I wouldn't know quite what to call him...

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Before the bossa nova recordings — what a great run. What are your favorite recordings from this period? The Roost recordings are great, but I thought we could look at the Norgran/Verves. Have all the Interpretations sessions been reissued on compact disc?

I agree. These are among my favourite Getz sessions. As well as Verve and Roost I'd also add the Prestige dates. Such elegance and invention in under three minutes.

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I very much like his 1956/57 quartet recordings with Lou Levy, Leroy Vinnegar and either Shelly Manne or Stan Levey (on "The Steamer" and "Award Winner") as well as "At The Opera House" with J.J. Johnson.

Have long been a fan of At the Opera House, which I consider a truly great jazz record. I first owned it on vinyl in the sixties and later replaced it with the CD in the nineties, which gave me all those extra tracks and revealed that it wasn't actually "at the Opera House", after all!

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What else is there, what am I missing? (Getz in Sweden is one I'm aware of, also Getz/Peterson and Getz/Hamp...)

The Peterson and Hampton dates are terrific. The Peterson set (sans drums) is on my Nano.

I've had the Hampton on my wantlist for a loooong time, but now I have to add the Peterson, too... thanks!

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Have all the Interpretations sessions been reissued on compact disc?

Check out the last post in this thread, I don't think it has everything but it has most of it.

Previous Getz discussion...

I absolutely adore this period of his career, his consistency, and always at such a high level, was pretty much amazing, he always came to play.

This has been reissued fairly recently and is well worth checking out.

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I can't think of any Getz from the 50's sessions that are less than damn good. I too love that period of his playing. While the Intrepretations recordings have been reissued on CD by the bootleggers, the sound quality is less than one might hope for.

A Mosaic set with top quality sound would be ideal.

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I can't think of any Getz from the 50's sessions that are less than damn good. I too love that period of his playing. While the Intrepretations recordings have been reissued on CD by the bootleggers, the sound quality is less than one might hope for.

A Mosaic set with top quality sound would be ideal.

Yea, the sound quality on the Classics CD I have of this material is quite dull, no real life to it at all, however the music, while not my favorite from this period, makes up for it.

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In the beginning, I was indifferent to Getz, preferring some of the other Pres disciples.

Later, I met and immediately grew to hate him. (It was a harrowing experience for an eleven year old.)

Still today, I can conjure up nearly every note on some of my favorite Getz recordings from this era:

...In Stockholm!

Hamp and...

...Meets Mulligan

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My favorites in no particular order:

At the Shrine

West Coast Jazz

Hamp and Getz

Stan Meets Chet

...and all of the Roost/Roulette material.

Agree with these, in particular the Shrine, West Coast Jazz and (for a nice contrast) the Hamp and Getz.

Another personal favorite are his 1950/51 "At Storyville" live recordings.

As for the Swedish recordings, don't just concentrate on the 1958 releases reissued by Dragon but have a listen to his 1951 recordings from Sweden that yielded his rendition of "Ack Värmeland du sköna" (with Swedish reviewers still laughing their butts off every time they comment on the nonsensical U.S. retitling of this song as "Dear Old Stockholm").

Re- the "Interpretations" albums, the 1953-54 Getz-Brookmeyer group recordings of that period have been reissued chronologically by Fresh Sound on a Cd set credited to Bob Brookmeyer.

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