Stan Getz – born Stanley Gayetzsky on February 2, 1927, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – was one of the all-time great jazz saxophonists. A naturally gifted musician, he first took up the saxophone at the age of 13 and was tutored by Simon Kovar of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. By age 16, he was playing in Jack Teagarden's band, dropping out of school to pursue his music career, which soon found him playing alongside many of the era’s jazz greats including Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman. It was with Woody Herman that Stan Getz first played a starring role as one of four sax players, who became known as The Four Brothers. He launched his solo career in the late 1940s when he formed the Stan Getz Quartet. The group, whose smooth sound would later be dubbed ‘cool jazz’, released their first recordings in 1946 on a split release with the Allen Eager Quartet but didn’t issue their own album, Vol. 1, until 1950. The quartet’s membership was never solid, and many great musicians would pass through the group including Al Haig, Georg Mraz, Chick Corea, Hank Jones, Horace Silver, Gary Burton, and many others. Stan Getz would continue to record jazz and bossa nova with versions of his quartet throughout the decades, but their iconic status is based on albums such as The Steamer (1957) and The Soft Swing (1959). Further recordings by the quartet include In Paris (1967), Portrait (1977), The Dolphin (1981), and Pure Getz (1982). He continued to record with versions of the quartet until his death at the age of 64 on June 6, 1991. There have been many posthumous Stan Getz Quartet releases over the years, all featuring the leadership of one of the coolest casts in jazz.
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