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| Photo courtesy Concord Jazz |
MALIBU, Calif. -- Stan Getz, one of the tenor saxophone's great innovators in the 'cool jazz' era of the 1940s' whose career enjoyed a revival 20 years later with the rise of bossa nova, died Thursday. He was 64.
A&M Records said Getz died peacefully at his home, but did not list a cause.
Getz emerged as a titan in modern jazz music but there were times during his long career when he was almost forgotten.
Getz's ups-and-downs stretched over almost half-a-century. He would reach a high spot then fade away into near oblivion and then return to prominence. Getz also found himself moving back and forth between New York and Europe.
Born in Philadelphia on Feb. 2, 1927, Getz decided on music as a way of life at an early age and was only 16 when he joined the Jack Teagarden band. Getz first played bass and moved to the bassoon before taking permanent possession of the tenor sax.
After a year with Teagarden, Getz moved to a better spot in Stan Kenton's avant garde band and remained there two years. Then he played with bands led by Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.
Getz was overshadowed by the musicians playing with Goodman and Dorsey, some of the best sidemen in the business, and he decided to try his luck in smaller bands. For a while he led a trio at the Swing Club in Hollywood. But he couldn't resist an offer to return to the big bands made by Woody Herman. So he joined the Thundering Herd and won national acclaim after recording 'Early Autumn' with Herman. Getz also belonged to an inner circle of the Herd, a reed section that included Zoot Sims, Serge Chaloff and Al Cohn.
His restlessness caused Getz to leave the comfort of the Woody Herman band to lead a trio again, this time going on a tour of Scandinavia. He returned to New York in 1952 to take a studio job with NBC but soon was leading a quintet.
He liked Stockholm and longed to return to that Scandinavian capital. While in Stockholm, in 1955, Getz became ill and was unable to play the sax. So he rested six months and went back to New York to play in a quartet. Getz got a musical part in 'The Benny Goodman Story' film in 1956 that led to a position with Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Once more Scandinavia beckoned and Getz left the touring Granz band to work in Copenhagen, living there for three years.
While Getz was in Copenhagen, a new musician named John Coltrane made the folks back home forget about Stan. 'Trane,' as he was known to his friends and fans, would become an all-time great on the modern jazz scene before his untimely death.
Thus when Getz returned to the United States, he found himself in Trane's shadow until another modern jazz immortal, guitarist Charlie Byrd, gave him a new eminence.
Byrd had toured Brazil and brought back a new sound called bossa nova. Byrd and Getz recorded an album, 'The Jazz Samba,' that included two compositions by the master of the genre, Carlos Jobim -- 'Desafinado' and 'One Note Samba.' Both tunes were released as singles in 1962.
Getz was more popular than ever and kept his momentum going two years later with a milestone recording of 'The Girl from Ipanema,' which introduced Astrud Gilberto, a beautiful vocalist, to American jazz lovers. 'The Girl from Ipanema' won its place among the classics of Spanish popular music and was still being played regularly more than 25 years later.
Although Getz's popularity ebbed as musical styles changed, he remained active through the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Getz married Monica Silfveskiold in 1956 and they had five children.
In May 1987, he sued her for divorce in White Plains, N.Y., on grounds of cruelty and adultery.
Getz testified at the divorce trial that he lived a life of alcoholism, impotency and fear of his wife, who secretly fed him medication that made him ill.
Getz won 11 Grammys, the Down Beat Hall of Fame Award and the French Order of Belles Artes et Lettres, in addition to the 'Bird,' Europe's most prestigious jazz award.
He is survived by his children, Beverly, Steve, David, Nick and Pamela and his fiance, Samantha Cesena.
First published at United Press International (UPI), June 6, 1991