1961 was the year before
Stan Getz's and
Charlie Byrd's smash
Jazz Samba recording appeared. The album's success netted an influence so imposing it impacted the direction of the saxophonist's creative life. Before this, there was scant recorded evidence to document where
Getz was headed after he returned to America from a three-year sojourn in Copenhagen.
Getz recorded
Focus with
Eddie Sauter in the summer of 1961, and in the fall,
Stan Getz & Bob Brookmeyer: Recorded Fall 1961 was recorded with the other members of his "Boston Band": drummer
Roy Haynes, pianist
Steve Kuhn, and bassist
John Neves. This group was captured at the Village Gate in November. Earlier that year,
Getz formed a quartet with bassist
Scott LaFaro that included
Kuhn and drummer
Pete LaRoca. By early March,
Haynes (after the bassist's lobbying) was in the drum chair. On July 3, the quartet performed to a standing ovation at Newport; three days later,
LaFaro was killed in an accident. Two weeks later, the saxist engaged
Neves. Simultaneously,
John Coltrane replaced
Getz at the top of the tenor polls in 1961. His new directions -- monitored by
Getz in Europe -- influenced the more muscular direction employed here that would evaporate on
Focus and
Jazz Samba. In addition,
Kuhn had worked with
'Trane before
McCoy Tyner.
In the vaults for 58 years, these tapes contain every note of the quartet's scorching performance in New York.
Getz's rich tone, fleet soloing, and driving rhythmic pursuit are displayed early in a storming, bop-pish read of
Cole Porter's "It's Alright with Me."
Getz and company also display their muscle in semi-modernist, back to back reads of
Coltrane's "Impressions" (that
Kuhn had played in the
'Trane band) and
Sonny Rollins' "Airegin." But the swing isn't missing: it is amply displayed during the first set in buoyant, good-natured takes of
Van Heusen's and
Burke's "Like Someone in Love," and
Gigi Gryce's "Wildwood." A flaming read of
Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n You" features stunning work from
Kuhn, followed by the ten-and-a-half-minute jam "Blues." The second set commences with the ballad "Where Do You Go?" followed by "Yesterday's Gardenias," a lithe midtempo swinger with some of
Getz's most lyrical improvising in the concert. The standards continue with "Stella by Starlight" as
Haynes double times the band with a cut-time shuffle, as well as a silky version of the ballad highlight "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," which is the most soulful recorded performance by the saxophonist. The show closes with a juxtaposition of early modernism --
Thelonious Monk's "52nd St. Theme" anthem -- and a nod to
Getz's greatest influence
Lester Young with a blues-drenched "Jumping with Symphony Sid." The sound on
Getz at the Gate is warm, full, and crystalline, and the package contains a fine
Bob Blumenthal liner essay. This concert is a major find: It shines a bright light on a historically obscure, musically adventurous period in
Getz's career, one that represents the road not taken. ~ Thom Jurek
![Kind of Blue [180-Gram Vinyl]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0886976805715_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Kind of Blue [180-Gram Vinyl]")
![Portrait in Jazz [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0025218108812_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Portrait in Jazz [LP]")
![Waltz for Debby [1962]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0888072504844_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Waltz for Debby [1962]")
![Portrait in Jazz [Bonus Track]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/8436028697205_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Portrait in Jazz [Bonus Track]")
