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.
Samba De Uma Nota So
Stan Getz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Feito numa nota só
Outras notas vão entrar
Mas a base é uma só
Esta outra é consequência
Do que acabo de dizer
Como eu sou a conseqüência
Inevitável de você
Quanta gente existe por aí
Que fala, fala e não diz nada
Ou quase nada
Já me utilizei de toda a escala
E no final não deu em nada
Ou quase nada
E voltei prá minha nota
Como eu volto prá você
Vou cantar em uma nota
Como eu gosto de você
E quem quer todas as notas
Ré, mi, fá, sol, lá, si, dó
Acaba sem nenhuma
Fique numa nota só
The lyrics of the song Samba de Uma Nota Só, also known as One Note Samba in English, are discussing the simplicity of love and how it can be expressed in a singular way. The opening lines, “Here’s this little samba / Built upon a single note / Other notes are sure to follow / But the root is still that note” is essentially saying that although there are many ways to express love, they all come back to one basic feeling.
The second stanza adds to the idea of simplicity, criticizing those who speak a lot but say nothing of substance, and stating that the singer has used every note on the scale in search of the perfect expression but has found it in the one note that matters. The last lines, “Who wants music all life long / Never gets to sing this song” reinforces the idea that simplicity and focusing on what truly matters is the key to happiness, rather than seeking out complexity for its own sake.
Line by Line Meaning
Eis aqui este sambinha
Here is this little samba
Feito numa nota só
Made with just one note
Outras notas vão entrar
Other notes will enter
Mas a base é uma só
But the base is just one
Esta outra é consequência
This other one is a consequence
Do que acabo de dizer
Of what I've just said
Como eu sou a conseqüência
As I am the inevitable consequence
Inevitável de você
Of you, inevitably
Quanta gente existe por aí
How many people are out there
Que fala, fala e não diz nada
Who talk and talk but don't say anything
Ou quase nada
Or almost nothing
Já me utilizei de toda a escala
I've already used the whole scale
E no final não deu em nada
And in the end it amounted to nothing
Ou quase nada
Or almost nothing
E voltei prá minha nota
And so I returned to my note
Como eu volto prá você
As I come back to you
Vou cantar em uma nota
I'll sing with just one note
Como eu gosto de você
As I love you
E quem quer todas as notas
And those who want all the notes
Ré, mi, fá, sol, lá, si, dó
D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Acaba sem nenhuma
End up with none
Fique numa nota só
Stick with just one note
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Tratore
Written by: Antonio Carlos Brasileiro De A Jobim, Newton Ferreira de Mendonca
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jeffnavarro2563
My daughter listens to this song as she sleeps in my arms. Just as I heard it in my father's arms 30 years ago. The Circle of Life continues to the same Rhythm and dance. Obrigado pra musica e Axé.
@paulgaier4525
Still fresh during 2020 lockdown. Thanks, Stan.
@AndreaSubversa
Thanks Tom Jobim
@joaaotubee
@@AndreaSubversa exactly.
@caetanoprofeta7274
Uma das melhores versões de “Samba de uma nota só” que eu já ouvi. Dá orgulho de ser brasileiro. Avante Brasil 🇧🇷.
@jacobtaylor2850
That percussion is almost mechanically perfect, very nice..
@richardleonard4281
I bought this album in '64 because of Charlie Byrd and became a Stan Getz fan. 54 years later it is as fresh as it was then.
@drakesmith471
I bet so. This is the kind of song that you can just pull out from time to time and you’ll find it has as much groove in it as the prior times.
@jamescarey
for sixty years now this has been one of my favorite songs.
@mhoracsek
Jobim was....no, he is sone of the greatest gift of God among artists. Much thanks for uploding.