It's Stan Getz' birthday (February 2, 1927), and I could listen to him (and have) the whole day long! I love this man and his music!

Stan Getz' parents immigrated from the Kiev area in the Ukraine in 1903, tired and fearful of the Pogroms. They wound up in the East Bronx of New York City. When he was 13 his dad bought him an alto saxophone for $35.00. Stan quickly learned to play all of the saxophones and the clarinet, but liked the sound of the tenor the best. That became his instrument. And are we lucky?!

Click Stan's image to hear one of his first solo hits, "Moonlight in Vermont" (1952)

“In my neighborhood the choice was: be a bum or escape. So I became a music kid, practicing eight hours a day. I was a withdrawn, hypersensitive kid. I would practice the saxophone in the bathroom, and the tenements were so close together that someone from across the alleyway would yell, 'Shut that kid up,' and my mother would shout back, 'Play louder, Stanley, play louder.'” 

He mooched quarters off his mom so he could take saxophone lessons every week from an excellent local teacher. He even took up playing bassoon in the school band.

Clicking Stan's portrait opens a mellow rendition of "These Foolish Things" (with a little obbligato sprinkling).

In 1962 Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd recorded Jazz Samba and started the bossa nova revolution in the United States.

Click the photo of Stan in action to hear him play live two bossa nova hits, "Desafinado" and "Girl from Ipanema." (Jim McNeely, piano; Marc Johnson, bass; Victor Lewis, drums.)

When his son Steve asked Stan what he thought about when he played, Stan said, “It's not forced concentration. Sure, I'm thinking about what I'm playing, but what I'm trying to do is to psyche myself into relaxing so the notes come out of the horn in a natural way.”

Click the old photo of Stan and son Steve to hear the "relaxing notes" of Stan playing a live rendition of "I Can't Get Started." (Kenny Barron, piano; Rufus Reid, bass.)

[Source for the text on this page: All About Jazz website. Click the "2018 Jazz Birthday Calendar" in the Blogs and sites I like menu item in the right margin to visit the site.]