Complete Studio Sessions - Stan Getz & Jimmy Raney

Advantages: A great jazz collection
Disadvantages: Stan is the only soloist

...I don't know if this album received that much attention when it came out but I've been listening to it lately a lot. I'm a saxophone player, and Getz is not even usually one of my favorites. I always thought his sound was too lightweight or something. The only albums I liked were the early Bossa Nova ones, but not any more. He plays so soulfully on this album, it's like he's literally crying, wailing, and his sound is so beautiful and big and perfect intonation--all the more amazing since he had terminal cancer at the time of the recording. You would never know it. This is a very arranged album with lots of horns and synthesized instruments and percussion and lots of different styles and grooves, but don't let that discourage you because it's very intimate and Stan is the only soloist, blowing all the way through. Occasionally... Read review

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Advantages: Near perfect saxophony.
Disadvantages: Too smooth.

...The Very Best of Stan Getz. Sax Moods. The cost of this double CD varies, I actually got mine from a boot sale for £3, it can be bought on Amazon for less than a fiver. Stan Getz, to me, on tenor sax is like Kenny G is to soprano, Mr smooth. There is no doubt that this has been both his accolade and his downfall. Traditional jazz fans may well find him too smooth, yet his pedigree and grounding was in some of the more bebop style bands. His 'tone' when playing has been called 'the sound' as it is pretty near perfect, now personally I like something a little more 'off' perfect. This double CD is broadly (though not completely) split into two genres. The first CD is more traditional jazz tunes and ballads whilst the 2nd CD is dominated by Latin, Bossa Nova type tunes, not my favourite genre (CD 2). The thing I do like about... Read review

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Advantages: Better songwritting representing a more complete album
Disadvantages: Lacks originality

...The problem Jimmy Eat World faced in 2006 was the same problem that any band would encounter when trying to write a sixth studio album. What Jimmy Eat World wanted to say and wanted to do had been achieved. In over 15 years of the alternative rock circuit they have produced some outstanding songs which have rocked festivals and stadiums across the world. From this position many band may have tried to create a new sound, or deviated from their tried and tested song writing formula - Jimmy Eat World however have not. Without the tiniest intent of deviation from their familiar style, Jim Adkins and co's sixth studio album, "Chase This Light", had to be representative of their best song writing abilities and it is. What "Chase This Light" lacks in originality it more than makes up for in its improvement on previous Jimmy Eat World efforts... Read review

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