Stan Getz, born Stanley Gayetski on February 2, 1927, and died on June 6, 1991, was an American jazz saxophonist. He mainly played the tenor saxophone and was called "The Sound" because of his warm, musical tone. His main influence was the soft and rich sound of his idol, Lester Young. He became famous in the late 1940s as part of Woody Herman's big band. Critic Scott Yanow called him "one of the greatest tenor saxophonists of all time." He played in bebop and cool jazz groups. Inspired by João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim, he helped make bossa nova popular in the United States. His 1964 song "The Girl from Ipanema" was a big success.

Early life

Stan Getz was born Stanley Gayetski on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent's Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. His father, Alexander ("Al"), was born in Mile End, London, in 1904. His mother, Goldie (née Yampolsky), was born in Philadelphia in 1907. Stan’s paternal grandparents, Harris and Beckie Gayetski, were originally from Kyiv, Ukraine. They moved to Whitechapel, in the East End of London, to escape anti-Jewish violence called pogroms. In England, they owned a tailor shop called Harris Tailor Shop at 52 Oxford Street for more than 13 years. In 1914, Harris and Beckie moved to the United States with their three sons, Al, Phil, and Ben, joining other family members who had already moved there. When Stan’s family arrived in America, they changed their last name from "Gayetski" to "Getz."

The Getz family first lived in Philadelphia but moved to New York City during the Great Depression to find better job opportunities. Stan worked hard in school, earned straight A grades, and finished sixth grade near the top of his class. His main interest was musical instruments. He began playing instruments at age 12 with a harmonica he received as a gift. At 13, his father bought him a $35 alto saxophone, his first saxophone. He soon learned to play all types of saxophones and the clarinet. He especially loved the tenor saxophone and practiced for eight hours daily while studying with Bill Shiner, a well-known saxophone teacher in the Bronx. Stan said he only took about six months of lessons and never studied music theory or harmony.

Stan attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx. In 1941, he joined the All-City High School Orchestra of New York City, where he received free private lessons from Simon Kovar, a bassoon player in the New York Philharmonic. During this time, he also played the saxophone at dances and bar mitzvahs. Later, he left school to focus on his music career but was sent back to school by truancy officers from the school system.

Career

In 1943, when he was 16 years old, he joined Jack Teagarden’s band. Because he was young, Teagarden became his guardian. Getz also played with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. His time in Los Angeles with Stan Kenton was short. After Kenton said that his main influence, Lester Young, was too simple, Getz left the group.

After performing with Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, Getz became a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in The Second Herd. During this time, he gained attention as one of the band’s saxophonists, who were known as "The Four Brothers." The other members were Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims, and Herbie Steward. While with Herman, Getz had a hit song called "Early Autumn" in 1948.

After leaving The Second Herd, Getz began his solo career. In 1950, he performed as a guest soloist with Horace Silver’s trio at Club Sundown in Hartford, Connecticut. Later, he hired Silver’s group for tours, which helped Silver gain national recognition. For a time, Getz did not pay Silver, using the money to buy heroin. Silver left in June 1952. During this period, Getz also played with musicians such as Al Haig, Duke Jordan, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Tommy Potter, Jimmy Raney, and Johnny Smith. These musicians had previously worked with Charlie Parker. Getz’s performance on Johnny Smith’s version of "Moonlight in Vermont" in 1952 became a hit. It stayed on the charts for months and was named the second best jazz record of 1952 in a DownBeat poll. The album Moonlight in Vermont, originally made from two 10-inch records, was released as a 12-inch record in 1956. By 1956, Ben Selvin, a well-known bandleader and record producer, included Getz’s recordings in the RCA Thesaurus transcriptions library for national radio broadcasts.

In 1952, Getz signed with Norman Granz, who owned Clef and Norgran Records. These labels later became Verve Records in 1956. In December 1953, Getz performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Max Roach. Their collaboration was released in 1955 as Diz and Getz. Other notable albums from this time include West Coast Jazz (1955) and The Steamer (1957). In 1958, Getz moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he performed with pianist Jan Johansson and bassist Oscar Pettiford at the Club Montmartre.

Returning to the United States in 1961, Getz recorded the album Focus with arrangements by Eddie Sauter, who added string music to support Getz’s saxophone. A 2021 article by Chris May for All About Jazz called Focus "one of the great masterpieces of mid-twentieth century jazz" and compared it to the work of Béla Bartók.

Getz helped introduce bossa nova music to American audiences by working with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had recently returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil. In 1962, they recorded the album Jazz Samba, which included their version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s song "Desafinado." This became a hit and won Getz a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance in 1963. The album sold over one million copies and received a gold record. His second bossa nova album, Big Band Bossa Nova (1962), was created with composer and arranger Gary McFarland. A follow-up album, Jazz Samba Encore! (1963), featured Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá, one of the original creators of bossa nova. It also sold over one million copies by 1964, earning Getz his second gold disc.

In 1963, Getz recorded the album Getz/Gilberto with João Gilberto, his wife Astrud, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. A single from the album, "The Girl from Ipanema," became a hit in 1964 and won a Grammy Award. The album Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys: Best Album and Best Single. Getz and producer Creed Taylor claimed the album’s success was due to their discovery of Astrud Gilberto, who had never recorded as a vocalist before. However, Astrud, João Gilberto, and their son, Marcelo, disagreed and said Getz and Taylor made up the story to avoid paying Astrud her royalties.

A live album, Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed. In 1964, Getz recorded Getz Au Go Go, a live performance at the Cafe au Go Go in New York City. While working with the Gilbertos, he also recorded the jazz album Nobody Else But Me (1964) with vibraphonist Gary Burton. However, Verve Records did not release the album until 30 years later, after Getz had died, because they wanted to focus on bossa nova music.

In June 1970, Getz discovered the trio Eddy Louiss (Hammond organ), René Thomas (guitar), and Bernard Lubat (drums) performing at the Apollo in Paris. He hired them and toured with this "European group" in Europe, North America, and South America. In March 1971, during a performance at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London, he recorded the live album Dynasty with the trio.

In 1972, Getz recorded the jazz fusion album Captain Marvel with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Tony Williams. During this time, he experimented with an Echoplex device on his saxophone. He also had a small role in the film The Exterminator (1980).

In the mid-1980s, Getz regularly performed in the San Francisco Bay area and taught at Stanford University as an artist-in-residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop until 1988. In 1986, he was inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1988, he worked with Huey Lewis and the News on their album Small World, playing a long solo on part of the title track, which became a minor hit.

Getz’s preferred saxophone was the Selmer Mark VI.

Personal life

Stan Getz married Beverly Byrne, a singer in the Gene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946, in Los Angeles. The couple had three children.

In 1954, Getz robbed a Seattle drugstore to get drugs for his heroin addiction. After being arrested, he tried to commit suicide by overdosing. He struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for many years. In 1983, he began regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Getz divorced Byrne in Mexico in 1956. Because of her own addictions, Byrne could not care for the children. Later, the court awarded custody of the children to Getz’s second wife, Monica Silfverskiöld. Monica was the daughter of Swedish doctor and former Olympic medalist Nils Silfverskiöld and Swedish Countess Mary von Rosen. Monica wanted to raise the children together, as they had been separated among family members. Eventually, the family included five children: Steven, David, and Beverley (children of Stan and Beverly); and Pamela and Nicolaus (children of Stan and Monica). The couple lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, partly to avoid the high rate of drug use in America at the time. Monica also became Stan’s manager and a major influence in his life.

In 1962, Monica returned to Sweden with the family after discovering Stan’s recurring addictions. During this time, Stan sent her two test recordings, one of which, Jazz Samba with Charlie Byrd, helped shape her plans for the next recording, Getz/Gilberto. However, Getz’s relationship with Byrd worsened due to a lawsuit Byrd filed against the record company.

After promising to stay clean and sober, Monica returned to the United States with the family. On November 21, 1962, Brazil sent many musicians to Carnegie Hall because of the bossa nova trend started by Jazz Samba. After learning that Getz had helped create bossa nova by combining jazz with samba, Monica suggested bringing together Getz, Gilberto, and Jobim. Although Getz was hesitant, Monica encouraged him, saying, “Don’t you have a reputation for being difficult?” During the recording of Getz/Gilberto, Getz and Gilberto became close friends. Gilberto even lived with the Getzes, sometimes joined by his children from two previous marriages and his second wife, Miúcha.

In the early 1980s, Getz relapsed into his addictions, leading to an arrest involving an illegal gun in his home with Monica and some children. This resulted in a court order protecting Monica, which required Getz to stay sober to be allowed in the house and to seek treatment. In 1981, Getz filed for divorce from Monica, but they reconciled in 1982 and signed a reconciliation agreement to jointly buy a home in San Francisco. Soon after, Getz relapsed again. After another incident involving an illegal gun and cocaine, Monica returned to their New York home. At this time, she started the National Coalition for Family Justice in 1988, around the time their divorce was finalized. In 1990, Monica Getz asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn their divorce ruling, which it refused. In 1987, Getz was diagnosed with cancer.

Zoot Sims, who knew Getz from their time with Herman, once described him as “a nice bunch of guys,” a reference to his unpredictable personality. Bob Brookmeyer, another musician, joked about rumors that Getz had heart surgery by asking, “Did they put one in?”

Death and legacy

Getz died from liver cancer on June 6, 1991. His ashes were scattered from his saxophone case six miles off the coast of Marina del Rey, California.

Awards

• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by a Soloist or Small Group (Musical Performance) for "Desafinado," 1962
• Grammy Award for Record of the Year for "The Girl from Ipanema," 1964
• Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz and João Gilberto (Verve), 1964
• Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance by a Small Group or Soloist Performing With a Small Group for Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz, 1964
• Grammy Award for Best Jazz Solo Performance for "I Remember You," 1991