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Getz, Stan(ley) (1927-1991)

Jazz saxophonist most famous for his bossa nova albums of the 1960s. His real name was Stanley Gayetzby.

Born to Russian-Jewish parents in the New York Bronx, Getz left school to play with Jack Teagarden and his band in 1943. He won a scholarship to New York’s Juilliard School of Music, but after only a year had returned to live music. In 1947 Getz joined the renowned saxophone section of the band led by Woody Herman, but left in 1949 to lead his own quartets. After suffering drug problems, Getz moved to Scandinavia. When he returned to the United States, two bossa nova songs, “Desafinado” (1962) and “The Girl from Ipanema” (1963), won him huge popular acclaim. His albums had charted on six occasions by 1965, introducing bossa nova to global audiences. He maintained a successful recording career through the 1970s and 1980s, after spending three more years in Europe, playing with young musicians such as Elvin Jones and Chick Corea. Getz recorded his last album, People Time (1991), only three months before his death.

Getz’s lyricism was initially indebted to Lester Young but, during his time with Herman, Getz developed his own style: his smooth playing, tinged with melancholy (first apparent on “Early Autumn” with Herman’s band), was a distinctive contribution to West Coast “cool jazz”. Although his fame largely rests on the popularity of his bossa nova albums, most of his career was spent in the jazz mainstream.