Stan Getz - Jazz Giants '58

MULLIGAN SHINES

I don't where these other reviewers are coming from. They are probably hired guns. This is obviously Mulligan's date as the opening of Chocolate Sundae would indicate. Getz is content to play hard bop sideman type choruses on what could be a C melody Tenor Sax. It's good but he's not the star. It's a great session never the less.If you're not tone deaf to the Baritone Sax and want more Mulligan with this tone and this type of groove, with no other major soloist except the pianist try JERU,MIDAS TOUCH and DREAM A LITTLE DREAM. Also with Dave Brubeck- AT THE BERLIN PHILHARMONIC. Gerry used a stiffer reed for a more refined sound on his Concert Jazz Band recordings and seems to be playing with it on Dave Brubeck's THE LAST SET AT NEWPORT and WE'RE ALL TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME with Paul Desmond added. June 6, 2008

No Stream like Mainstream

Yes, this is a beautiful and logical aglomeration of jazz giants: those who are the giants of modern jazz (Mulligan, Getz) have deep roots in the jazz tradition;
it is actually quite fascinating to hear Stan Getz on the opening number: he actually adds some of Lester Young style wailing to his cool tenor sound! That's quite compatible with the general mood of the song, with Harry "Sweets" Edison, in his prime, and really swinging rhythm section, consisting of Oscar Peterson's trio (with great Ray Brown having some opportunities to solo on this album and Herb Ellis doing some very effective comping), plus great Louis Bellson on the drums...

The basic principle of this album leans towards swing rather than modern jazz, but modern jazz is a key ingredient to this brilliant mainstream affair; it is a genuine pleasure to listen to Harry Edison working on Dizzy Gilespie's standard "Woody'n'you"...

All the musicians involved really shine (and both Mulligan and Getz have previously proven how well they work with older musicians - Hamp, the Prez, Roy Eldridge...) so this is a mainstream jazz affair to remember, a true festival of jazz giants, with Mulligan, in addition to sensitive solos, contributing some head on arrangements... April 8, 2008

"Chocolate Sunday": Timeless '50s Treat with a Lasting Flavor

What a surprise to find this session reissued, and domestically at that. Gerry, Sweets, Oscar, Bellson--these are some of the most identifiable, inimitable and personal instrumental voices in American music, and each of the musicians speaks with sufficient authority to be considered "leader" on the date. But it is Getz who makes the most lasting impression.

Stan Getz--a player whose facility and pyrotechnics are perhaps equalled by no other tenor saxophonist (listen to "For Musicians Only," his date with Diz and Stitt) and whose melodic-harmonic sensibilities, as demonstrated on an album such as Eddie Sauter's "Focus," are still beyond the reach of most musicians. Yet on this occasion he offers up some of the most laconic, minimalist playing on record--not the effete, whispering and somewhat wimpy and meandering solos of his early West Coast "cool" jazz period but music that's as deeply embedded in the blues as Lady Day and Lester performing "Fine and Mellow."

On "Chocolate Sunday," a medium-tempo blues in G introduced by a remarkable Ray Brown bass solo (no artificial boosts or electronic pick-up), Getz follows Oscar Peterson's thunder by practically eschewing technique altogether in favor of pure emotional expression. It's an instance of brilliant restraint resulting in playing of unrestrained feeling. Each sound is articulated differently--from above the pitch or just under it--and the notes are more often sustained than clustered into glib phrases. It's as basic and fundamental as the music can get, an honest cry from the heart--elemental yet penetrating lyric poetry.

Of the many Getz recordings I've collected, this is the one I'd be most reluctant to part with. March 22, 2008

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