Search - Stan Getz :: Quiet Now: Body & Soul

Getz's lyricism is unique in jazz.

jimwellen | Haskell, NJ United States | 03/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album delivers samples of some of Stan Getz's most beautiful ballad playing from the 50's through the Bossa Nova years and into the 70'. Getz, whose career spanned nearly a half-century was a one-of-a-kind tenor saxophonist. On up-tempos he swung with with such drive that Oscar Peterson called him "Stanley the Steamer", but on ballads he was a master story-teller, creating a tonality which is instantly recognizable and which has never been duplicated. John Coltrane said of Getz's tone, "We'd all play that way if we could." Great as these samples are, Getz's playing, especially on ballads, continued to deepen in its emotional scope throughout his career. This compilation could have included a sample or two of Stan's ballads from his last years when his stories took on the bitter-sweet tone of an aging poet."