STAN GETZ / EVANS, BILL - STAN GETZ & BILL EVANS

Stan Getz (Stanley Gayetzky, February 2, 1927 Philadelphia – June 6, 1991 Malibu, California) was an American jazz tenor saxophone player. Known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, Getz's prime influence was the wispy, mellow tone of his idol, Lester Young. His parents were Ukrainian Jews who immigrated from Kyiv city, Ukraine in 1903. The family later moved to New York City for better jobs. Stan worked hard in school receiving straight "A's" on average and finished 6th grade close to the top of his class. Stan's major interest was in musical instruments, and he felt a need to play every instrument in his sight. He played a number of instruments before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. Even though his father also got him a clarinet, Stan instantly fell in love with the saxophone and began practicing 8 hours a day. In 1941, he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra of New York City. This gave Stan a chance to receive a private, free tutor from the New York Philharmonic, Simon Kovar - a bassoon player. He also began to spend more time playing the saxophone. He eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue his musical career, but was later sent back to the classroom by the school system’s truancy officers. In 1943, he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band, and because of his youth he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played along with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947 to 1949 in 'The Second Herd' and he first gained wide attention as one of the band's saxophonists, who were known collectively as 'The Four Brothers', the others being Serge Chaloff, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward. With Herman, he had a hit with "Early Autumn" and after Getz left 'The Second Herd' he was able to launch his solo career. He would be the leader on almost all of his recording sessions after 1950. During the early '50s, Getz broke away from the Lester Young style to form his own musical identity and he was soon among the most popular of all jazzmen. He discovered Horace Silver in 1950 and used him in his quartet for several months. After touring Sweden in 1951, he formed an exciting quintet that co-featured guitarist Jimmy Raney; their interplay on up-tempo tunes and tonal blend on ballads was quite memorable. Getz's playing helped Johnny Smith have a hit in "Moonlight in Vermont," during 1953-1954 Bob Brookmeyer made his group a quintet and, despite some drug problems during the decade, Getz was a constant poll winner. After spending 1958-1960 in Europe, the tenorman returned to the U.S. and recorded his personal favorite album, Focus, with arranger Eddie Sauter's Orchestra. Getz became a central figure in introducing bossa nova music to the U.S. audience. Teaming with guitarist Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it became a hit. The title track was an adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "One Note Samba". Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado". As a follow-up, Getz recorded Jazz Samba Encore! with one of the originators of bossa nova, Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfa. He then recorded the album Getz/Gilberto with Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy Award. The piece became one of the most well-known latin jazz cuts of all time. Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single), besting The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, a victory for Bossa Nova and Brazilian jazz. A live album, Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2, followed, as did Getz Au Go Go, a recording made live at the Cafe Au Go Go. Unfortunately, Getz' affair with Astrud Gilberto brought an end to his musical partnership with her and her husband and he began to move away from bossa-nova and back to cool jazz. Even while still working with the Gilbertos, he recorded Nobody Else But Me an album of straightforward jazz with a new quartet including vibraphonist Gary Burton, but Verve Records, wishing to continue building the Getz brand with bossa-nova, refused to release it. It eventually came out 30 years later, after Getz had died. In 1972, Getz recorded in the fusion idiom with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. This group, without Getz, went on to become the famous Return to Forever, and many of the pieces including "La Fiesta" remained in their repertoire. In this period Getz experimented with an Echoplex on his saxophone, for which critics vilified him. He eventually discarded fusion and "electric jazz", returning to acoustic jazz, while at the same time gradually de-emphasizing the Bossa Nova, opting for more esoteric and less-mainstream jazz. He had a cameo in the movie The Exterminator (1980). Towards the end of his life the now drug-free Getz had another creative peak with a group including the pianist Kenny Barron, whom Getz described as "my musical other half". In 1986, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on 7 November 1946; they had three children together: Steven, David, and Beverly (who married Michael McGovern). Getz became involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager. In 1954, he was arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy to get a morphine fix. As he was being processed in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly gave birth to their third child one floor below. Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction by moving to Copenhagen. He married Swedish aristocrat Monica Silfverskiöld on 3 November 1956 and had two children with her: Pamela and Nicolas. In 1957 Swedish girlfriend Inga Torgnér gave birth to a son Peter. Stan divorced Monica in 1987. Zoot Sims, who had known Getz since their time with Herman, once described him as 'a nice bunch of guys', as a consequence of the wide behavioural range of which Getz was capable. In the final stages of his life Getz was able to end his addictions. Getz died of liver cancer in 1991. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, off the coast of Malibu, California. In 1998 the 'Stan Getz Media Center and Library' at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

A near-total unknown when he landed in New York in 1955 to study with George Russell, Bill Evans quickly became famous as the most cerebral modern jazz pianist since Thelonious Monk. After a stint with Miles Davis that included the epochal Kind of Blue, Evans led his own trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian that ended with LaFaro's death in a 1961 car accident. After a period of seclusion, Evans returned with 1962's haunting, minimal Undercurrent. He maintained a steady presence in modern jazz until his death in 1980. A second artist with the name Bill Evans is the 1958 born saxophone player who joined Miles Davis group at the tender age of only 21 y.o. Thereafter he joined forces with John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orchestra with whom he recorded three albums and did quite a bit of touring. He also worked with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Steps Ahead and Mick Jagger and - on the side - collected a few Grammies over the years. After the release of a trio album in 1982 ( Moods Unlimited) Evans started releasing his solo material with the 1984 debut Living in the Crest of a Wave. For Petite Blonde he formed a backing band including well-known musicians Dennis Chambers, Victor Bailey, Mitch Forman and Chuck Loeb. Evans became famous for meshing up a variety of styles with his temporary saxophone-jazz playing. This showed with the subsequent effort, which was an acid jazz, funk-jazz project named Push, which was both an album and a side band for Evans. Bill toured extensively with the [artist0Bill Evans & Randy Brecker Soulbop Band]Randy Brecker/Bill Evans Soulbop Band (formed in 2003) for over 15 years, which incorporated the many influences they both have had in their careers in the Jazz arena. This cooperation produced a live recording called the 'Soulbop Band Live'. Deeply intrigued and ultimately inspired by Jazz, as well as American roots music, Evans wrote, produced and recorded 'Soulgrass' in 2005, garnering a Grammy nod in the process.( his 2nd one to date ) Soulgrass was a breakaway new fusion of jazz and American roots music, blending the banjo, fiddle, mandolin and Dobro, combining the best musicians from Jazz and Americana together. According to Bill "the music and soundscape change, but it’s still me and my saxophone!" Three more CDs followed in the Soulgrass genre, 'The Other Side of Something', 'Dragonfly', and the 2014 release of 'Live in Moscow' recorded during the first of two sold out U.S. State Dept sponsored tours of Russia. Each subsequent release found Bill pushing the musical boundaries of Jazz and Improvisational groove. Says Evans "Miles always told me to write and play what inspires me. I’ve kept true to his advice from the very beginning regardless of the challenges they may create. Miles gave me the confidence to believe in myself as a player and a composer." In early 2019 Evans once again teamed up for another co-led recording with legendary Blues guitarist Robben Ford, drummer Keith Carlock , and bassist James Genus, to record 'The Sun Room' which was released in July 2019 and rose to the top of the iTunes download charts. Robben Ford/Bill Evans, 'Blues, Miles and Beyond' with Keith Carlock and Darryl Jones performed at the Tokyo Bluenote, March 2023 to 8 sold out shows. May 2024, Bill toured Europe with his band - 'Bill Evans and the VansBand Allstars.' Ater a 6 year Hiatus since releasing his last Solo Cd Bill released his 27th CD , titled "Who I Am" on August 16th. It has over 100,000 streams in just over a few weeks. To be continued... Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.