The tenor with the most cool credentials in jazz history,
Stan Getz is a natural fit for any label's
Jazz Moods: Cool series. Unfortunately, Columbia/Legacy owns very few
Getz recordings (Verve is the home of his best material), and few of them are excellent. Four disparate sessions comprise this 11-track entry, but they do function as a perfunctory overview of
Getz's many accomplishments -- just not the best examples of those accomplishments. The Brazilian jazz revolution is touched upon not by the classic Getz/Gilberto album (which Verve owns) but by a 1976 reunion with
João Gilberto titled
The Best of Two Worlds. His mid-'60s prime is represented by tracks from
Bob Brookmeyer and Friends or
Tony Bennett's
Jazz volume, and the other session is a 1977 duet album with pianist
Jimmy Rowles. Not the best place to start with
Getz if you're looking for his bossa nova favorites,
Jazz Moods: Cool functions more as an interesting way for fans to pick up some far-flung material. ~ John Bush