Recorded the same week as Getz/Gilberto '76, Resonance Records' companion album, 2016's
Moments in Time, captures saxophonist
Stan Getz performing live at San Francisco's Keystone Korner in May 1976. To celebrate the release of
Getz's reunion album with Brazilian singer/guitarist
João Gilberto, 1976's
The Best of Two Worlds, the saxophonist booked a week of shows at the Keystone backed by his quartet and featuring
Gilberto. Whereas Getz/Gilberto '76 showcases the
Gilberto performances,
Moments in Time finds
Getz appearing alone with his band, featuring pianist
Joanne Brackeen, drummer
Billy Hart, and bassist
Clint Houston. Despite the wealth and fame he accumulated from his initial 1960s bossa nova albums,
Getz remained a creatively restless, forward-thinking artist over the coming years. His band here, arguably one of his best of the period, also bore this forward-looking vision out with performances that straddled the line between lyrical intimacy and aggressive, extroverted improvisation. One can also see where
Getz's taste was at the time based on his song choices, pulling together standards like "Summer Night" with more harmonically layered pieces like
Wayne Shorter's languid and sultry "Infant Eyes" and the funky
Kenny Wheeler composition "The Cry of the Wild Goose." As with Getz/Gilberto '76,
Moments in Time is a thoughtfully curated package featuring not only some of
Getz's best live performances of the period, but also liner notes from producer
Zev Feldman, Keystone Korner club owner
Todd Barkan, and others, as well as interviews with bandmembers
Hart and
Brackeen. ~ Matt Collar