Basically, what you see is what you get: all of the recordings
Stan Getz did for the Norgran and Clef between December of 1952 and January of 1955. Most of this material has been issued several times -- at least -- by numerous labels legally and illegally. What makes the Hip-O Select set the definitive issue is, besides proper licensing, that all of these cuts, the 10" albums -- Stan Getz Plays, The Artistry of Stan Getz, all three Interpretations volumes, and
Stan Getz & the Cool Sounds -- along with all the single and EP releases for a total of 45 sides -- three of them previously unreleased -- and a pair of studio cuts that appeared on the otherwise live
Stan Getz at the Shrine appear in chronological order. The vast majority of these sessions were recorded with quintets. The membership of these
Getz bands featured
Bob Brookmeyer on all but the last where he is replaced by
Tony Fruscella, pianist
John Williams (though
Duke Jordan appears on the earliest of these tracks with guitarist
Jimmy Raney), bassist
Teddy Kotick and drummer
Frank Isola. Six performances were recorded by a quartet that included pianist
Jimmy Rowles, drummer Max Roach, and bassist Bob Whitlock. Two of them, alternate takes of "I Hadn't Anyone 'Til You," and "Nobody But You" are previously unissued. The other unreleased cut is an alternate take of "It Don't Mean Thing," recorded with the quintet during August of 1953. The liner notes by Ashley Khan offer a typically excellent historical titime linef the sessions and the relationship between
Norman Granz and
Getz during during a fruitful but chaotic period in the saxophonist's life personally and professionally, without editorializing. They also include a painstaking sessionography, photographs of single labels, and album covers with the three discs presented in heavy cardboard adorned with original cover art; all of it housed handsomely in a slipcase. The remastered sound is warm and full; exponentially better than it appears anywhere else. For real
Getz collectors, the set is a necessity. ~ Thom Jurek