STAN GETZ – 1946-1949 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1126 (2000) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

These are the first recordings ever released under the name of Stan Getz. Four Savoy sides from July 1946 constitute one hell of a debut as Getz gets off with the expert backing of Hank Jones, Curly Russell, and Max Roach. "Opus de Bop" and "Running Water" are dazzlers, while "And the Angels Swing" and "Don't Worry 'Bout Me" reveal Getz's often-noted Lester Young influence. Six sides cut for Bob Shad's Sittin' in With record label in October 1948 are especially satisfying on account of pianist Al Haig, electric guitarist Jimmy Raney, bassist Clyde Lombardi, and drummer Charles Perry. All six tunes were composed by Getz and demonstrate an obsession with bop formulae. "Frosty," also known as "Flugelbird," was recorded about a month later for Shad's other label, Jax. The same rhythm section backs trumpeter Norman Faye and a tenor sax quartet of Getz, Zoot Sims, Allen Eager, and Al Epstein. Garnished with a bit of primitive vibrato, this record has a strange but not unpleasant quality. The Stan Getz Tenor All Stars put down four sides for the New Jazz label in April 1949, lining up Al Cohn, Allen Eager, Brew Moore, and Zoot Sims in a smooth bop experiment landing somewhere between Woody Herman's Herd and Coleman Hawkins' Keynote Sax Ensemble. Walter Bishop laid a lot of block chords while sax after sax took a shot at running the changes, and Getz even blew baritone on "Five Brothers." A Savoy session from just a few weeks later placed trombonist Earl Swope amid Getz, Cohn, and Sims, with Duke Jordan on piano. Both of these octets came across as cool and well-organized. The Stan Getz Quartet, with Al Haig, Gene Ramey, and Stan Levey, made five excellent sides for the Prestige and New Jazz labels on June 21, 1949. Their rendition of Victor Herbert's "Indian Summer" is superbly mellow. It is easy to draw a line directly from this whimsical record directly to the cool bossa novas that would make Stan Getz so famous years later, even among a record-buying public who never heard any of these marvelous early recordings by this suede-toned tenor man. arwulf arwulf     Tracklist + Credits :

STAN GETZ – 1950 | The Classics Chronological Series – 1172 (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

After a pair of taffy ballads sung in imitation Billy Eckstine baby talk by Junior Parker -- not the Memphis blues singer but a pseudonym for Arthur Daniels -- the 21 tracks that follow demonstrate exactly why Stan Getz went over so well with the listening public. His soft tone and gently inventive phraseology, a direct outgrowth of the Lester Young archetype, make each of these performances an ideal choice for relaxation. Getz regularly recorded with exceptional musicians. The rhythm sections of Al Haig, Tommy Potter, and Roy Haynes or Tony Aless, Percy Heath, and Don Lamond were perfectly suited to his softly searching essays in cool improvisation. On December 10, 1950, Horace Silver, Joe Calloway, and Walter Bolden kindled a hotter fire under the saxophonist, resulting in music of elevated intensity. At this point in his career, Getz sometimes engaged in bubbly noodling, which in its wilder moments sounds like a premonition of Lee Konitz as heard on his fabulous Motion sessions of 1961. This equation would also lead to Warne Marsh and Anthony Braxton, if you want to go there. As for material choices, the 1950 Getz repertoire is full of delightful surprises, from an almost calypso "The Lady in Red" to "Sweetie Pie," a cheerful number barbecued by Fats Waller & His Rhythm back in 1934. Anyone familiar with Waller's version will most likely thrill at hearing this brisk modern expansion of the old Tin Pan Alley come-on. Excellent music, good for the nerves and stimulating for the imagination. arwulf arwulf         Tracklist + Credits :