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.
Skylark
Stan Getz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Have you anything to say to me?
Won't you tell me where my love can be?
Is there a meadow in the mist
Where someone's waiting to be kissed?
Skylark
Have you seen a valley green with spring?
Over the shadows and the rain
To a blossom covered lane
And in your lonely flight
Haven't you heard the music in the night?
Wonderful music, faint as a will o' the wisp
Crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the moon
Oh skylark
I don't know if you can find these things
But my heart is riding on your wings
So if you see them anywhere
Won't you lead me there?
Oh skylark
I don't know if you can find these things
But my heart is riding on your wings
So if you see them anywhere
Won't you lead me there?
The lyrics to Skylark by Stan Getz are a poignant plea to the eponymous bird for information on love and hope. The song speaks of a search for a lost love and asks the Skylark to help find them. The bird is questioned about the location of the lost love and is asked if there is a meadow in the mist where the person is waiting to be kissed. The questioner also asks if the Skylark has seen a green valley, where the heart can go on a journey, and if the bird has heard the music of the night.
The song highlights the desperation of someone searching for love and hope in a world that seems to be lost to them. The Skylark serves as a messenger, with a mission to find what has been lost. The lyrics convey a sense of longing and melancholy, while the soft melodic notes of the music serve to create a sense of peace and serenity, a balm to soothe an aching heart.
Overall, the lyrics to Skylark by Stan Getz are a wonderful example of the power of music to convey complex emotions and touch the depths of the human soul.
Line by Line Meaning
Skylark
The singer addresses the bird, Skylark.
Have you anything to say to me?
The singer asks the Skylark if it has any message for them.
Won't you tell me where my love can be?
The singer hopes that the Skylark knows where their love is and asks it to disclose the information.
Is there a meadow in the mist
The artist wonders if there is a meadow shrouded in the mist.
Where someone's waiting to be kissed?
The artist wonders if their beloved is waiting for someone's kiss in a meadow in the mist.
Skylark
The singer addresses the bird again.
Have you seen a valley green with spring?
The singer asks the Skylark if it has seen a valley in its full greenery of spring.
Where my heart can go a journeying
The artist expresses the desire to visit that green valley with their heart and soul.
Over the shadows and the rain
The artist wants to visit the valley beyond the gloom and downpour.
To a blossom covered lane
The artist visualizes a beautiful journey through a lane full of blooming flowers.
And in your lonely flight
The singer acknowledges the Skylark's loneliness during its flight.
Haven't you heard the music in the night?
The artist asks the bird if it has listened to the music of the night.
Wonderful music, faint as a will o' the wisp
The singer describes the music to be lovely but delicate like the flickers of light from a will o' the wisp.
Crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the moon
The singer states that the music is wild and insane like the call of a loon, yet gloomy like a gypsy serenading the moon.
Oh skylark
The singer addresses the bird, Skylark, once again.
I don't know if you can find these things
The artist admits that they are unsure if the Skylark can find the things they seek.
But my heart is riding on your wings
The artist's emotions and desires are accompanied by the Skylark's flight.
So if you see them anywhere
The singer asks the Skylark to guide them if it finds the places they seek.
Won't you lead me there?
The singer requests the Skylark to lead them to their love and the hidden valley.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HOAGY CARMICHAEL, JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind