Jazz 625 - Stan Getz Quartet

Stan Getz (ten), Gary Burton (vibes), Steve Swallow (bs), Roy Haynes (dms).

In retrospect, this 1966 recording was probably a landmark event bringing together as it did the old and the new.

Roy Haynes, a near founder figure of the bebop movement in the late forties, Getz 'the king of cool' in the fifties and two forward thinkers of the sixties in Burton and Swallow all together at the London School of Economics. At least the student audience showed a modicum of enthusiasm compared to the embalmed bodies in search of a coffin from previous shows.

And well they should! Getz, riding high on his bossa-nova success "Desafinado" played with the sound that had been his trademark for many years and if he didn't break any new ground - that period was still on the horizon - what he did was fine by this listener.

Gary Burton, looked amazingly young and naive - in a couple of years his hair would be rockstar length and his music tailored accordingly but tonight he kept within the bounds of convention. Likewise Steve Swallow on double bass - he was positively Brooks Brothers tonight.

On drums, Roy Haynes kept it all swinging and had a well applauded solo - I wonder, has there ever been a drum solo that wasn't well applauded?

Tunes? There was "Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" - Getz at his most languorous. "Silver Bells (or Belles)" composed and performed by Gary. A stomping "Ornithology", the inevitable "Desifinado" taken faster than on record - maybe he wanted it over and done with.

Stan also blew a wistful "When The World Was Young" and Steve worked-out on a Jobim thing.

Someone tell me - is the Bossa-Nova an actual dance like the Rhumba and Samba etc? And, if so, does anyone know how to do it?

Stills.

Lance.