Cerra On Early Getz

Thanks to Steven Cerra of Jazz Profiles for including, in his recent profile of Stan Getz, notes that I wrote for the box set reissue of Getz’s recordings for the Roost label. As Steve mentions in his introduction, Getz’s elegant work toward the end of his life tends to obscure what he achieved with his Roost sessions in the early 1950s. His recordings with groups featuring guitarist Jimmy Raney and pianist Horace Silver are from an important early period in his success. The collection has a cross-section of dates from that era that also features as sidemen Al Haig, Duke Jordan, Tiny Kahn, Johnny Smith and Bill Crow, among others.

To tease you into reading Steve’s post, here’s Getz in 1951 with Raney, pianist Haig, bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Kahn playing Johnny Mandel’s “Hershey Bar.”