Stan Getz – Stan Getz Plays

I have a copy of what looks to be the 1955 mono pressing with the yellow deep groove Norgran label. However, it has "MGC -676A" and "MGC-676B" stamped in the A and B side runouts along with the "MGN-1042A H" and "MGN-1042B H" that are documented in Discogs. On the A side, the "MGC-676A" is crossed out with a single horizontal line and on the B side, the "MGC-676B" is crossed out with two horizontal lines. Does anyone else see these additional characters in the runout?

This is another album by Stan Getz that is entirely overlooked, but then, the man had so many brilliant records coming out within a few years of each other that people are naturally drawn to a personal, if not subversive list of what they think best. In reality, one needs only to listen to one album at a time without considering that one is better than the other, after all, it’s all about the pleasure of the music.

Stan Getz Plays is another in a continuing series of standards Getz lends his sax to. If anything is of note, it’s that this release, on the original vinyl, sounds sonically far better than say Quartets, so remarkably different that I’m surprised more people weren’t drawn to the record for that fact alone. Add that that during these sessions, Stan is entirely more focused and in control, more confident here, and while Stan is as cool and breathy as ever, his line of attack is strong, coming off as visionary and self-assured. Getz does improvise a bit here and there on the album, though not more than necessary, and these remarkable flights are simply elegant and beautifully warm.

There are those who are forever nipping at Getz’s heels, dogging the man about his slower paced songs, suggesting that they are nothing more than restricted musical embroidery, yet for this listener, it’s within these slower numbers that one gets to meet Stan face to face as he spins his gracious stories. Without a doubt, Stan Getz was a restless artist, mildly changing his stance from album to album, though not much, where he cherishes his lyrically simple jazz standards, concentrating foremost on the melody, though at the same time, weaving countless variations on and within those familiar themes, where even his uptempo numbers possess a lightness, even a delicacy that are purposely designed to be enhanced and ed by a discrete and never intrusive rhythm section that is worth while focusing on in its own right.

Of note, is the fact that all of this material had been previously released as two ten inch extended plays by Clef Records.

*** The Fun Facts: Getz was married to Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band at the time of this album’s release, the child on the cover is one of the three children they had together.

Review by Jenell Kesler