STAN GETZ

Stan Getz, born to Ukrainian-Jewish parents and raised in New York City, played a number of instruments before his father bought him his first saxophone at the age of 13. In 1943, he was accepted into Jack Teagarden's band. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman from 1947–49. He scored a hit with Early Autumn. With few exceptions, Getz would be a leader on all of his recording sessions after 1950.

Getz married Beverly Byrne, a vocalist with the Gene Krupa band, on November 7, 1946; they had three children. He married Swedish aristocrat Monica Silfverskiold on November 3, 1956, and had two children. In 1957, Swedish girlfriend Inga Torgner gave birth to his son, Peter.

In the 1950s, Getz become popular playing cool jazz with Horace Silver, Johnny Smith, Oscar Peterson, and many others. His first two quintets were notable for their personnel, including Charlie Parker's rhythm section of drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Al Haig and bassist Tommy Potter. In 1958, Getz tried to escape his narcotics addiction by moving to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Returning to America in 1961, Getz became a central figure in the Bossa nova. Along with Charlie Byrd, who had just returned from a U.S. State Department tour of Brazil, Getz recorded Jazz Samba in 1962 and it became a hit. The title track was an adaptation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Samba De Uma Nota Só" (One Note Samba). Getz won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 for "Desafinado".

He then recorded with Jobim, João Gilberto and his wife, Astrud Gilberto. Their "The Girl from Ipanema" won a Grammy Award. The title piece became one of the most well-known latin jazz pieces of all time. Getz/Gilberto won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single), besting The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, a victory for Bossa Nova and Brazilian jazz. Wes Montgomery and Joe Henderson incorporated Brazilian jazz in their work. In 1967, Getz recorded albums with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke.

Getz resurfaced in the 1980's, experimenting with an Echoplex on his saxophone, for which critics vilified him. He eventually discarded fusion and "electric jazz", returning to acoustic jazz. Getz gradually de-emphasized the Bossa Nova, opting for more esoteric and less-mainstream jazz. He had a cameo in the movie The Exterminator.

He had become involved with drugs and alcohol while a teenager, and would physically abuse his wives while under the influence. In 1954, he was arrested for attempting to rob a pharmacy to get a morphine fix. As he was being processed in the prison ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Beverly, whom Stan had gotten addicted to heroin, gave birth to their third child one floor below. After years of trying to get him clean, Monica, who had gained custody of Stan and Beverly's children, left him; he divorced her in 1987.

Getz died of liver cancer. In 1998, The "Stan Getz Media Center and Library" at the Berklee College of Music was dedicated to him through a donation from the Herb Alpert Foundation.