Stan Getz (1927–1991) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist from Philadelphia with one of the most beautiful tones the instrument has ever produced. Getz/Gilberto (1964), cut with João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, brought bossa nova to the world and won four Grammys including Album of the Year — start there, then try Focus (1961). Explore Stan Getz vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Stanley Gayetski was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 2, 1927 to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He launched his recording career as a teenager in the 1940s with Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman big band work. He is widely cited as one of the most important jazz tenor saxophonists in popular music history and a foundational figure of bossa nova's international 1960s popularization. His 1964 album Getz/Gilberto - recorded with Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim, and singer Astrud Gilberto (wife of João, last-minute substitute vocalist on The Girl from Ipanema) - brought bossa nova to mainstream international popular music audiences. The album sold over 2 million copies and won four Grammy Awards in 1965 including Album of the Year (the first jazz album to win Album of the Year) and Record of the Year for the single The Girl from Ipanema. He has continued recording across multi-decade jazz catalog including Charlie Byrd, Chick Corea, and Kenny Barron collaborations. He struggled with heroin addiction across his career (1954 robbery conviction substance abuse). He died of liver cancer on June 6, 1991 at age 64 at his Malibu home. His foundational influence on jazz tenor saxophone is widely cited.
Stan Getz's sound combines jazz, bossa nova, cool jazz, post-bop, hard bop, Brazilian jazz, swing, and Latin jazz with his distinctive lyrical tenor saxophone phrasing (use of intimate, breathy tone widely cited as among the most beautiful in jazz tenor saxophone history), virtuosic improvisational approaches, and arrangements drawing on classic jazz traditions alongside Brazilian and Latin musical influences.
Original Prestige Records, Roost Records, Verve Records, and Columbia Records pressings of the Stan Getz catalog are foundational items in jazz collecting, with collector premiums on rare pressings.
Listeners new to Stan Getz typically start with Getz/Gilberto (1964) or Focus (1961).
