For those not in the know, Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young.

Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as "one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists".

Getz performed in bebop and cool jazz groups. Influenced by João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim, he popularized bossa nova in America with the hit single 'The Girl from Ipanema' (1964).

A previously unreleased recording of master jazz saxophonist Stan Getz and his quartet, recorded on November 26th, 1961 at New York’s Village Gate, will be released by Verve/UMe on June 14th, 2019.

Entitled Getz At The Gate it will be available as 2CD, 3LP and digital sets featuring every note performed that night by Getz with his new band of the time, featuring Steve Kuhn, John Neves and Roy Haynes.

The show itself was professionally recorded with a view to possible commercial release but, after those plans were forgotten, the tape sat in the vaults for 58 years.

Ergo, the recording now serves as a priceless document of a direction that Getz, ultimately, did not follow.

CD 1:
1 – Announcement by Chip Monck
2 – 'It’s Alright With Me' (Cole Porter)
3 – 'Wildwood' (Gigi Gryce)
4 – 'When The Sun Comes Out' (Harold Arlen-Ted Koehler)
5 – 'Impressions' (John Coltrane)
6 – 'Airegin' (Sonny Rollins)
7 – 'Like Someone In Love' (Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Burke)
8 – 'Woody ’N You' (Dizzy Gillespie)
9 – 'Blues' (Stan Getz)

CD 2:
1 – 'Where Do You Go' (Alec Wilder-Arnold Sundgaard)
2 – 'Yesterday’s Gardenias' (Dick Robertson)
3 – 'Stella By Starlight' (Victor Young-Ned Washington)
4 – 'It’s You Or No One' (Jule Stine-Sammy Cahn)
5 – 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most' (Tommy Wolf-Fran Landesman)
6 – '52nd Street Theme' (Thelonious Monk)
7 – 'Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid' (Lester Young-King Pleasure)

Listening avidly to this quite wondrous 2CD set, not only does Getz at The Gate contain performances of several tracks that he had recorded in the 1950s - including ‘When the Sun Comes Out,’ ‘Like Someone in Love’ and ‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most’ - but it also hints at where he might have gone if the bossa nova sound had not dictated his next direction (with Getz’s only known recordings of ‘It’s All Right with Me’ and ‘Yesterday’s Gardenias’ included here).

On what is quite a harmonious and illustrious live album, the 16-tracks include renditions of John Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’, Thelonious Monk’s ’52nd Street Theme,’ and complete with uptempo choruses, Sonny Rollins’ ‘Airegin’.

As aforementioned, this impassioned lush live recording captures Getz shortly before his deep dive into jazz samba, and now iconic releases with Charlie Byrd (Jazz Samba, 1962) and João Gilberto (Getz / Gilberto, 1964), but also showcases a man not afraid to experiment.

2CD Purchase Link

3LP Purchase Link

www.StanGetz.net