Down Beat : 10/03/1956

From 1949-50 sessions that were important to the furtherance of Getz’ career both in relation to the development of his style and to bringing him before a wider public. The three rhythm sections, each backing Stan on four, are Haig-Levey-Ramey, Haig-Potter-Haynes, and Aless-Heath-Lamond. The package is taken from 10″ Prestige 108, and 10″ New Jazz (then a Prestige subsidiary) 102 and 104. These were among Stan’s most creative sculptures in his more or less dry-ice period but are no less warm for their stylistic coolness, and the rhythm sections also swing.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

John Lewis, mentor of the Modern Jazz Quartet, likes to refer to the standard tunes which jazzmen use as bases for improvisation as “the American ballad form.” That Stan Getz is one of the leading interpreters of this form is a fact which Stan has consistently proven since he first attained prominence on the jazz scene.

These recordings are from what could be termed Stan’s “immediate post- Woody Herman period.” Early Autumn had started him on his way but the sessions contained in this LP really established him as a stylist and also as a combo leader.

Recently I was glancing through some old Metronomes and came across an interview with Stan. He said that he didn’t feel comfortable playing tempos faster than The Lady In Red. Since then, a lot of bridges have passed under the horn and many tempos have been wailed by Stan much faster than Lady In Red, but this does not negate the work of the early period. In the same article, Stan named Long Island Sound, Indian Summer and Lady In Red as his favorites of the ones he had done up to that time. They are still fresh today, valuable not only historically but also for their own musical merit.