STAN GETZ – 1951 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1299 (2003) FLAC (tracks), lossless

1951 was a very busy year for Stan Getz. After leaving Woody Herman's band in 1949 and spending the greater part of a year on his own, he found his first great rhythm section at a club in Hartford and recorded with them, lived in Sweden for several months and recorded there, then formed a quintet with guitarist Jimmy Raney and recorded several sides (including a live date). The Classics label's wrap-up of a year in the life of jazz's most innovative tenor of the time finds him in great company, first at the March 1951 session spawned by a Hartford jam session where he found Horace Silver. Silver appears on the first four sides, contributing his sublime original "Split Kick" that Getz is able to weave a spell around. Barely three weeks later Getz was in Stockholm, recording eight sides -- which ranged from Porter's "Night and Day" to the traditional "Ack, Värmeland du Sköna" -- in two days with a tasteful all-star group featuring a light-fingered young pianist named Bengt Hallberg. Back in New York by August of 1951, Getz worked with a quintet for the rest of the year, initially including both Silver and Raney. The group, with drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Leonard Gaskin, really cooked on "Melody Express" and "Yvette," a pair of Gigi Gryce songs. 1951 closes with four tracks recorded in October at a Boston club named Storyville, where Raney's nimble solos do much to keep Getz focused (and challenged). A note for the Getz completist: With the exception of the eight titles from Sweden (which appeared on a Metronome LP), all of these tracks also appear on Getz's The Complete Roost Recordings, though the Proper box set The Sound does the same work at a cheaper price. John Bush      Tracklist :

STAN GETZ – 1951-1952 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1338 (2003) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

In response to shortsighted comments implying that Stan Getz and Zoot Sims sounded too much like each other and too similar to Lester Young, Ira Gitler liked to use the analogy of "...a friend calling you on the telephone. You know who it is immediately. It's the same thing when you hear a musician play." The secret, of course, is to listen so carefully and consistently that you feel as though you have become a friend of the artist. This sort of empathy is a vital ingredient in jazz -- the empathy between composers, players, and listeners. Hearing Stan Getz recorded live in performance at Boston's Storyville club on October 28, 1951, spells it out marvelously. Backed by pianist Al Haig, guitarist Jimmy Raney, bassist Teddy Kotick, and drummer Tiny Kahn, Getz sounds as though he has arrived at a hard-won maturity. One great aspect of this music lies within the comparative nature of every sound. In Getz listeners can hear Jimmy Giuffre, Lee Konitz, even Charles Lloyd -- but best of all, Getz himself. By this time his artistry had evolved well beyond where he had been only a couple of years earlier. In some of these bands there's something of the marvelous complexity of Lennie Tristano's fascinating ensembles. Eight 1952 recordings originally released on 78-rpm singles bearing the baby-blue Roost label appeared under the heading of the Johnny Smith Quintet. Smith's quicksilver guitar, heard most dynamically on the rapid Tristano-like "Jaguar" and a fantastic cruising theme called "Tabu," acts as a stunning foil for the tenor. The slower numbers are positively intoxicating. Even with the guitar predominating, "Moonlight in Vermont" stands among the loveliest ballad recordings this saxophonist ever participated in. The band's next session took place in November of 1952, and resulted in music of comparable excellence. On December 12, Getz collaborated for the very first time with producer Norman Granz. Backed by a rhythm section including pianist Duke Jordan, the saxophonist had clearly found his own voice. "The Way You Look Tonight" is a powerful closer for this outstanding album of vintage early modern jazz. arwulf arwulf     Tracklist :

STAN GETZ – 1953 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1395 (2005) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist + Credits :

AL COHN - The Al Cohn Quintet featuring Bob Brookmeyer (1956-2005) RM | Serie LP Reproduction | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Al Cohn and Bob Brookmeyer appeared on a number of record dates together, each appearing as a sideman with the other, in addition to joint appearances on a number of Manny Albam-led sessions, among others. But this disc, initially issued by Coral on LP in 1957, was one of the hardest to acquire until its 2005 reissue as a limited-edition CD. With the assistance of pianist Mose Allison, bassist Teddy Kotick, and drummer Nick Stabulas in the rhythm section, Cohn and Brookmeyer inspire one another throughout the sessions. Brookmeyer contributed the upbeat "Good Spirits" and breezy "Lazy Man Stomp." Cohn's strong originals include the cool ballad "Winter" and the swinging "Back to Back." They also update a number of standards from earlier decades, including Brookmeyer's exotic setting of "Ill Wind" (a terrific feature for Cohn) and Cohn's surprisingly uptempo setting of the usually hackneyed "Chloe.". Ken Dryden  
Tracklist :
1     The Lady Is a Tramp 3:25
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers    
2     Good Spirits 3:37
Bob Brookmeyer    
3     A Blues Serenade 4:23
Vincent Grande / Jimmy Lytell / Frank Signorelli    
4     Lazy Man Stomp 2:56
Bob Brookmeyer
5     Ill Wind (You're Blowin' Me No Good) 2:50
Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler    
6     Chloe 3:38
Gus Kahn / Neil Moret    
7     S-H-I-N-E 3:45
Lew Brown / Ford Dabney / Cecil Mack    
8     Back to Back 2:37
Al Cohn    
9     So Far So Good 3:50
Al Cohn    
10     Winter 3:54
Al Cohn    
11     I Should Care 2:41
Sammy Cahn / Axel Stordahl / Paul Weston    
12     Bunny Hunch 2:39
Bob Brookmeyer
Credits :
Bass – Teddy Kotick
Drums – Nick Stabulas
Piano – Mose Allison
Tenor Saxophone – Al Cohn
Trombone – Bob Brookmeyer