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.
Stars Fell On Alabama
Stan Getz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All the world a dream come true
Did it really happen, was I really there, was I really there with you?
We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama last night
I can't forget the glamor, your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama last night
A fairy land where no one else could enter
And in the center just you and me, dear
My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight
And stars fell on Alabama last night
We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama last night
I can't forget the glamor, your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama last night
I never planned in my imagination a situation so heavenly
A fairy land where no one else could enter
And in the center just you and me, dear
My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight
The lyrics to "Stars Fell On Alabama" by Stan Getz describe a romantic encounter between two people. The opening two lines reference the beauty of the Southern states with "moonlight and magnolia," and the romanticism continues with "starlight in your hair" as the singer recalls a time when it seemed like "all the world a dream come true." The following lines convey a sense of disbelief and wonder about the experience, questioning whether it actually happened and if the singer was truly there with the other person: "Did it really happen, was I really there, was I really there with you?"
The following verse describes a "little drama" shared between the two, kissing in a "field of white" where "stars fell on Alabama last night." The singer can't forget the "glamor" of the encounter, including the way the other person's eyes held a light that was "tender." The final verse mirrors the first, describing the singer's imagination of a "fairy land" where only they can exist. Ultimately, the singer recalls with emotion the way "my heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight" as the stars fell on Alabama.
Line by Line Meaning
Moonlight and magnolia, starlight in your hair
The beauty of the night and the aura you possess are breathtaking
All the world a dream come true
Everything is perfect and feels like a dream
Did it really happen, was I really there, was I really there with you?
The experience was so surreal that the singer questions its reality
We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white
The two individuals experienced a romantic moment in a vast, blank space
And stars fell on Alabama last night
The night was so magical that the stars themselves made an appearance
I can't forget the glamor, your eyes held a tender light
The singer is infatuated with the beauty and softness of the other person
And stars fell on Alabama last night
The night was so special that it is worth mentioning again
I never planned in my imagination a situation so heavenly
The artist could not have even dreamt up a situation this perfect
A fairy land where no one else could enter
It was a special moment shared between just the two individuals and no one else
And in the center just you and me, dear
The moment was exclusively about the two individuals and their connection
My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight
The singer's heart was racing and they held the other person tightly
And stars fell on Alabama last night
The night was so undeniably special that it is even mentioned in the final line of the song
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Frank Perkins, Frank S Perkins, Mitchell Parish
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind