Four Classic Albums (Focus / The Soft Swing / West Coast Jazz / Cool Velvet)

“Focus”; “The Soft Swing”; “West Coast Jazz” and “ Cool Velvet”
Two hard to find on CD albums help to make up our second outing for the remarkable Stan Getz “The Soft Swing” and “Cool Velvet”! “Focus”…………Recorded in 1961, “Focus” was commissioned by Stan Getz and composed and arranged by Eddie Sauter, Getz having admired Sauters work since he had played it with Benny Goodman at the age of 18! “Focus”……….” is very rare………..it is not jazz in the forms we have come to accept…….it is music of a very high calibre both written and improvised”. “The Soft Swing”…………the first of our hard to find on CD selections, has an interesting line up for Stan in 1957 with Mose Allison, no less ,on piano, Jerry Segal on drums and Addison Farmer on bass. Here we find Stan opening up both emotionally and rhythmically albeit still retaining his ability and desire to play beautiful ballads alongside band lifting stompers! “West Coast Jazz”………….The result of a live set at Zardies in Hollywood one hot sticky night in 1955 where Stan had put together a pick up band comprising West Coast musicians Conte Candoli, Lou Levy, Leroy Vinnegar and Shelly Manne. Getz thought the band was so hot he decided to get the sound down on record and “ West Coast Jazz” is the result ……………..cool!! “Cool Velvet”…………the second of our hard to find on CD selections this album finds Stan with strings! As the original liner notes attest…… “it is doubtful whether there is anyone whose style is better suited to the muted emotions of a string background than Stan Getz”. Recorded in Stuttgart, Germany in 1960 with European musicians Getz manages to craft together a work of sensibility and melodic wit selecting tracks like “Round Midnight” and “Whisper Not” and bringing to them his own inimitable style.
All four albums have been digitally re-mastered for probably the finest ever sound quality!