Browsing the works of my fellow artsjournal.com bloggers this morning, I discovered in his blog Overflow a piece by Harvey Sachs that illuminates the condition of American popular culture in the new century. Mr. Sachs, the distinguished biographer of Arturo Toscanini and Artur Rubinstein, recently repatriated to the US after decades overseas. He posted this item nearly two months ago, but it has a long shelf life. Here is an excerpt: I had heard of Michael Jackson, knew that he was an … [Read more...]

No one ever accused Stan Getz of phoning in a solo. Not infrequently, however, he gave the appearance of detachment as he played while surveying the audience with eyes wide open. When he closed those cool blue eyes and leaned into a solo, something special was likely to happen. In Italy in 1961, cameras caught an instance of Getz fully committed. Video of the event surfaced not long ago. The tune is Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'n You." Ray Brown is on bass, Ed Thigpen on drums. The pianist is Lou … [Read more...]

You don't rehearse jazz to death to get the camera angles. - Stan Getz A good quartet is like a good conversation among friends interacting to each other's ideas. - Stan Getz The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body. - Stan Getz Let's face it--we'd all sound like that if we could. - John Coltrane … [Read more...]