A 12-cut "very best of"
Stan Getz? If it's on Verve it can come close, at least in the era of post-consumerism. What this collection does very successfully is mark the great saxophonist's most pronounced periods, from West Coast and bebop to hard bop, from bossa nova to balladeer to his final period with the great pianist
Kenny Barron. Sure, "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Desafinado" are here but, more importantly perhaps, so are his deeply moving version of
Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count," recorded when he knew he was dying of cancer (
Strayhorn wrote the tune for the same reason), his stomping bop version of
Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," and the very late whispering version of
Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes." This is a beautiful little collection that would be a fine introduction to
Getz as a jazz master and not just a bossa nova innovator. ~ Thom Jurek