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.
A Little Girl Blue
Stan Getz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wish you wouldn't stay (little girl)
Won't you go away (little girl)
Wooo ooo go away.
Go away little girl
Go away little girl
I'm not supposed to be alone with you
But our lips must never meet
I belong to somebody else and I must be true.
Please go away little girl
Go away little girl
It's hurting me more each minute that you delay
When you are near me like this
You're much too hard to resist
So go away little girl before I beg you to stay.
Won't you go away (little girl)
Wish you wouldn't stay (little girl)
Won't you go away (little girl)
Wooo ooo go away.
Go away little girl
Go away little girl
It's hurting me more each minute that you delay
When you are near me like this
You're much too hard to resist
So go away little girl
Call it a day little girl
Please go away little girl before I beg you to stay.
Won't you go away (little girl)
Wish you wouldn't stay (little girl)
Won't you go away (little girl)
Please go away.
The lyrics of "Little Girl Blue" by Stan Getz & Gary Burton convey a conflicted and tormented emotional struggle experienced by the singer in their encounter with a young girl. The repetitions of "Won't you go away" and "Please go away" reflect the singer's desperate plea for the girl to leave, highlighting their desire to avoid temptation and maintain faithfulness to someone else in their life.
The lyrics explore the conflict between the singer's attraction to the girl, expressed in lines like "I know that your lips are sweet" and "When you are near me like this, you're much too hard to resist," and their commitment to their current relationship. The singer recognizes the potential consequences of succumbing to their desires, stating "our lips must never meet" and acknowledging the pain caused by the girl's presence, stating "It's hurting me more each minute that you delay."
The emotional struggle faced by the singer is captured in the repetition of the phrase "little girl," which conveys both affection and dismissal. The singer addresses the girl directly, urging her to leave before the singer succumbs to temptation and begs her to stay. This internal turmoil and moral dilemma form the core of the song, emphasizing the complex and often conflicting nature of human emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Won't you go away (little girl)
I wish you would leave and not continue to be in my presence, young lady.
Wish you wouldn't stay (little girl)
I desire for you to not remain here with me, young lady.
Won't you go away (little girl)
I sincerely request for you to depart, young lady.
Wooo ooo go away.
I implore you to evacuate from this place, young lady.
Go away little girl
Kindly remove yourself from my presence, young lady.
I'm not supposed to be alone with you
It is against my obligations to be in solitary company with you.
Oh yes I know that your lips are sweet
Indeed, I am aware of the allure and pleasantness of your lips.
But our lips must never meet
However, it is essential that our lips never make contact.
I belong to somebody else and I must be true.
I am in a committed relationship with another person and it is my duty to remain faithful.
Please go away little girl
I humbly request for you to depart, young lady.
It's hurting me more each minute that you delay
The longer you prolong your stay, the more emotional distress it causes me.
When you are near me like this
When you are in close proximity to me in this manner
You're much too hard to resist
Your presence and allure make it exceptionally challenging for me to resist temptation.
So go away little girl before I beg you to stay.
Therefore, I urge you to depart, young lady, before I find myself pleading for you to remain.
Call it a day little girl
Consider ending this interaction, young lady.
Please go away little girl before I beg you to stay.
I beseech you to depart, young lady, before I find myself imploring you to remain.
Won't you go away (little girl)
I sincerely request for you to leave, young lady.
Wish you wouldn't stay (little girl)
I desire for you to not remain here with me, young lady.
Won't you go away (little girl)
I implore you to depart, young lady.
Please go away.
I earnestly urge you to leave.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Gerry Goffin, Carole King
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind