Unearthed ‘Getz At The Gate’ Augments Legacy Of Jazz Great Stan Getz

A previously unreleased recording of master jazz saxophonist Stan Getz and his quartet, recorded on 26 November 1961 at New York’s Village Gate, will be released by Verve/UMe on 14 June. Getz At The Gate 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 lead track, ‘It’s All Right With Me,’ is available now for streaming.

The show 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. The recording serves as a priceless document of a direction that Getz, ultimately, did not follow.

Returning from a period of living in Europe, he put together this new quartet to pursue a slightly more modern and aggressive sound which was gaining ground, notably via John Coltrane’s quartet, in which Kuhn had recently been playing. But in 1962, Getz’s Jazz Samba album with guitarist Charlie Byrd heralded the start of the bossa nova boom, and steered the course of Getz’s career for the following years.

1963’s Jazz Samba Encore! (1963) album, featuring Luiz Bonfá, continued that trend, before the saxophonist’s unforgettable liaison with Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto for 1964’s Getz/Gilberto. Also featuring pianist Antônio Carlos Jobim, it led to a Record of the Year Grammy Award in 1965 for ‘The Girl From Ipanema,’ one of two tracks featuring João’s wife, vocalist Astrud Gilberto.    

Getz at The Gate contains 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.’ 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.’ The album also showcases the uptempo choruses of ‘Airegin’ and an impassioned version of ‘Where Do You Go?’.

Getz At The Gate is released on 14 June. Scroll down for the full tracklisting, and pre-order it here.

Getz At The Gate tracklisting:

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)

Explore our Stan Getz Artist Page.

Format: UK English