Stanley Getz, better known as Stan Getz (February 2, 1927 - June 6, 1991) was an American jazz musician. He is considered one of the greatest tenor saxophone players of all time, well known for his instantly recognizable warm tone as displayed in his version of the song "The Girl from Ipanema".

Born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City, Getz played a number of instruments before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. In 1943, at the age of 16, he was accepted in Jack Teagarden's band. After playing in various other bands (1944 Stan Kenton; 1945 Jimmy Dorsey; 1945-46 Benny Goodman) Getz became best known as a soloist in the Woody Herman Band from 1947-49.

In the 1950s, Getz became quite popular playing cool jazz with Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, and many others. In order to escape his drug addiction (for which he had gotten arrested in 1954), he temporarily moved to Denmark in 1958.

After returning to America in 1961, he began his work with Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and the singers João and Astrud Gilberto. Their collaboration on "The Girl from Ipanema" (1963), one of the most well known jazz pieces altogether, made Jobim's style, known as bossa nova, more popular.

After another drug-induced hiatus in Malaga, Spain, from 1969, Getz toured and recorded heavily in the 1970s and 1980s until his death from cancer at Malibu, California, in 1991. In his later years, he de-emphasized bossa as his style of choice, opting for more challenging, and perhaps less mainstream jazz.

Samples

• Indian Summer.ogg of "Indian Summer"

Partial discography

• West Coast Jazz (1955)
• The Steamer (1956)
• Stan Getz And The Oscar Peterson Trio (1957)
• At The Opera House (1957)
• Getz Meets Mulligan In Hi-Fi (1957)
• Jazz Samba (1963?) (remastered in 1997)
• Getz/Gilberto (1963)
• Stan Getz With Cal Tjader (1963)
• Stan Getz And Luiz Bonfa Jazz Samba encore! (1963)
• Getz Au-Go-Go (1964)
• Stan Getz & Bill Evans (1964)
• Getz/Gilberto #2 (1964)
• The Best Of Two Worlds (1976)
• The Peacocks (1977)
• Serenity (1991)

External links

• 1986 Interview