A MAGNIFICENT MELLOW PERFORMANCE BY THE TENOR TITAN: WITH VO
RBSProds | Deep in the heart of Texas | 07/22/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Five "Mellow" Stars!! Every one of these stars is for the MAGNIFICENT Mr. Getz and the 'Quartet +'. The concept of this recording is Getz & Company with wordless voices, mostly in a latin vein. The "voices" part, however, is little more than pretty window dressing most of the time. Tracks where the wordless vocal backings work best are on the 'Pieces De Resistance': Horace Silver's classic "Nica's Dream" where the voices are minimal (an all-time favorite Getz song of mine that has jumped from vinyl record to reel-to-reel tape to 8 track tape to cassette tape formats, and finally to ITunes digital format in my collection. Whew!!), the theme from the eponymous motion picture "I Want To Live" (where the vocal group heats up considerably), and the bossa nova "Little Rio" after the bridge and on the coda. The voices do provide a nice cushion for each song, but they usually arise late in each song and ultimately contribute little, in and of themselves. But it's Getz who is absolutely ON FIRE, improvising with mellow aplomb, totally in need of no 'concept', spinning each song on it's thematic sonic edge, pushed on by his bandmates.
The admirable support 'quartet plus percussion' consists of Herbie Hancock or Hank Jones (piano); Jim Hall (guitar); Ron Carter (bass); a fiery Grady Tate (drums); with Artie Butler, Bill Horwath, and/or Bobby Rosengarden on percussion. Claus Ogerman conducts the voices. The tracks are 4 minutes or less, so little or no solo opportunities are there for this wonderful support group of jazz all-stars but they provide great propulsion and meaningful background commentary for each song. It's Getz who gets the "Focus" (an inside Getz-fan joke, see below) and he makes the most of every opportunity. LOL
Other "Pieces De Resistance" are "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" (with a fabulous Jim Hall out-of-time introduction) and "Where Flamingo's Fly": all marvels of cool and daring Getz improvisation. The late Stan Getz was an AMAZING jazz musician; one of the greatest ever. Thank goodness for his huge discography. Highly Recommended!! If you love Getz, this is a wonderful addition to any jazz collection, a great present, or a great place to begin a Getz collection. Forget 1961, this is timeless. Five Very Hip Stars!!!
(* "Focus" was the title of a highly successful Getz 'concept' recording with an orchestra and strings playing Eddie Sauter music, composed and arranged especially for Stan.
* This review is based on an 11 track ITunes Download.)"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1