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.
It's The Talk Of The Town
Stan Getz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We were more than sweethearts,
It's so hard to understand.
Don't know why it happened,
Don't know how it started,
Why should we be strangers,
After all we planned.
I can't show my face,
Can't go anyplace,
People stop an' stare,
It's so hard to bear,
Everybody knows you left me,
It's the talk of the town
Every time we meet,
My heart skips a beat,
We don't stop to speak,
'Though it's just a week,
Everybody knows you left me,
It's the talk of the town
We send out invitations,
To friends and relations,
Announcing our weddin' day
Friends and our relations,
Gave congratulations,
How can you face them?
What can you say?
Let's make up sweetheart,
We can't stay apart,
Don't let foolish pride,
Keep you from my side,
How can love like ours be ended?
It's the talk of the town
How can you face them?
What can you say?
Let's make up sweetheart,
We can't stay apart,
Don't let foolish pride,
Keep you from my side,
How can love like ours be ended?
It's the talk of the town, hm
It's the talk of the town.
"It's The Talk Of The Town" is a song about a couple who were more than just lovers and sweethearts, but their love ended without any explanation or understanding. The singer expresses his pain and sorrow, saying that he can't show his face or go anywhere without people staring and talking about their breakup. They had even announced their wedding, and now friends and family are congratulating them without knowing that the relationship has ended. However, despite all of this, the singer still hopes for a reunion, asking his lover not to let foolish pride keep them apart and wondering how a love like theirs could end.
The lyrics are about the aftermath of a breakup, and the confusion, pain, and sadness that come with it. Despite the lack of explicit details about the reasons for the breakup, the lyrics communicate the depth of the emotions involved. The singer's desperation to reunite with his lover despite the social pressures and gossip also speaks to the power of love and its impact on our lives and relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
We were more than lovers,
Our relationship went beyond just being lovers,
We were more than sweethearts,
We shared an even deeper connection than just being romantic partners,
It's so hard to understand.
I can't comprehend why things turned out the way they did,
Don't know why it happened,
I have no explanation for how this all started,
Don't know how it started,
I'm clueless as to how our relationship fell apart,
Why should we be strangers,
It doesn't make sense for us to be estranged,
After all we planned.
Especially since we had made so many future plans together,
I can't show my face,
I feel embarrassed and ashamed of my situation,
Can't go anyplace,
I'm afraid to go out in public because of how people will perceive me,
People stop an' stare,
I attract unwanted attention because of the rumors circulating about us,
It's so hard to bear,
Dealing with the gossip and scrutiny is emotionally difficult,
Everybody knows you left me,
The word has spread that you chose to end our relationship,
Every time we meet,
Whenever we see each other,
My heart skips a beat,
My heart rate increases with excitement and/or nervousness,
We don't stop to speak,
However, we never take the time to have a conversation with each other,
'Though it's just a week,
Even though it may have only been a short amount of time since we last spoke,
We send out invitations,
We distribute invitations to our wedding celebration,
To friends and relations,
To both our acquaintances and family members,
Announcing our weddin' day
Notifying everyone of the date and time of our wedding,
Gave congratulations,
Offered us well wishes for our future together,
How can you face them?
I wonder how you would even be able to confront those who congratulated us,
What can you say?
What explanation could you possibly give for why we called off the wedding,
Let's make up sweetheart,
We should reconcile and try to fix our relationship,
We can't stay apart,
It's not realistic or healthy for us to continue living separate lives,
Don't let foolish pride,
We shouldn't allow our egos to get in the way of repairing our love,
Keep you from my side,
We need to prioritize each other and make a sincere effort to stay together,
How can love like ours be ended?
I can't fathom how a strong love like ours could have fallen apart,
It's the talk of the town
Our breakup and the circumstances surrounding it are widely known and discussed by many,
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: AL J NEIBURG, JERRY LEVINSON, MARTY SYMES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@janerikgulbrandsen6387
Medicine for heart and head! Wonderful!
@orqsilva
I heard this on the radio on the way home. Stunning performance. Dizzy who normally plays a lot of notes, is very restrained but the intervallic permutations he applies to the melody stretch into realms of atonality. Getz is also masterful. It shows you really have to know and have a deeply ingrained sense of the actual "melody" to be able to play at this level.
@j-ggagnon409
Quelle collaboration Diz and Getz....Chef d'oeuvre(indémodable)!!
@37BopCity
For musicians, I think this recording should be played in school as a classic example of jazz improvisation. Taking simple melodies and changes and developing them into endlessly interesting variations in the way that Dizzy and Stan do it, is something to be studied and emulated.
@WebMentorCR
This is just fantastic.
@carylachman1822
getz spins this one out amazingly
@fioredecor222
IMPECCABLE,
@riccardovinci
Meraviglioso...!!
@luiginaferraioli9162
senza parole
@annerood2703
At 6:05 I swoon