Stan Getz – Big Band Bossa Nova (1962/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Stan Getz – Big Band Bossa Nova (1962/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:42 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verve Reissues

Stan Getz almost single-handedly brought the bossa nova sound to the United States and helped create an international craze thanks to a series of albums he made in the early 1960s. On these albums, Getz teamed up with Brazilian bossa nova musicians and composers, masters of the craft like Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and Gilberto’s wife, vocalist Astrud who would become world famous thanks to The Girl From Ipanema. This album, the second in the series, predates that song and was unusual for a bossa nova album of the time in that it was entirely instrumental, nonetheless very successful. Conductor Gary McFarland deserves a great deal of the credit for that success due to his magnificent big band arrangements.

Fresh from the sudden success of Jazz Samba and “Desafinado,” Stan Getz asked the 28-year-old, strikingly gifted Gary McFarland to arrange a bossa nova album for big band as a follow-up. Getz is always his debonair, wistful, freely-floating self, completely at home in the Brazilian idiom that he’d adopted only a few months before. McFarland usually keeps things nice and spare (although “One Note Samba” is uncharacteristically cluttered and a bit too discordant for the material), letting his pungent voicings stab the air now and then, while allowing the soloists all the room they want within the confines of producer Creed Taylor’s tight timings. Four of the eight songs are by McFarland (none of which would become standards), and Getz makes relaxed impressions with “Manha de Carnival” and “Chega de Saudade.” Jim Hall takes the role of acoustic guitarist from Charlie Byrd with his usual fluidity, and Hank Jones ruminates in a boppish way on piano. This album also charted quite respectably (number 13) in the first flush of the bossa nova boom. –Richard S. Ginell

Tracklist:
01. Stan Getz – Manha de Carnival (Morning of the Carnival) (05:49)
02. Stan Getz – Balanço no Samba (Street Dance) (03:00)
03. Stan Getz – Melancólico (Melancholy) (04:44)
04. Stan Getz – Entre Amigos (Sympathy Between Friends) (02:59)
05. Stan Getz – Chega de Saudade (No More Blues) (04:11)
06. Stan Getz – Noite Triste (Night Sadness) (04:58)
07. Stan Getz – Samba de Uma Nota Só (One Note Samba) (03:28)
08. Stan Getz – Bim Bom (04:30)

Personnel:
Stan Getz, tenor saxophone on all tracks, with:
(#5-8): Gary McFarland and His Orchestra:
Doc Severinsen, Bernie Glow (tp), Clark Terry (flhrn), Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb), Tony Studd (b-tb), Ray Alonge (fhr), Ray Beckenstein, Arthur “Babe” Clarke (cl), Jerry Sanfino (fl), Eddie Caine (alto-fl), Romeo Penque (b-cl), Hank Jones (p), Jim Hall (g), Tommy Williams (b), Johnny Rae (d),
Carmen Costa (cabassa), Jose Paulo (tamb),
Gary McFarland (arr, cond).
(#1-4): Same personnel as above, except Joe Ferrante &
Nick Travis (tp) replace Glow & Terry; Willie Dennis (tb) replaces
Brookmeyer; Walt Levinsky (cl) replaces Jerry Sanfino;
Ray Beckenstein plays flute.

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