Lullaby Of Birdland - Stan Getz

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

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

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: Fantastic fourth album, no loss in strength
Disadvantages: Takes a while to get into

...The fourth album. If you're a band, it's always going to be dangerous territory. You've had three albums before and chances are your sound is well established and successful. Thing is, by the fourth album it's going to need a makeover otherwise people will get bored. However, this in turn causes more problems - if you create new sound, people might not like it, whether it just doesn't appeal to them outright or because it wasn't what they were expecting. Equally, you won't gain new fans who like similar things to your new sound, because you'll be remembered for your old one and they won't give you a try. So as you can imagine, I approached Lullabies to Paralyze with a degree of caution. There's been a slight change in line-up from the QOTSA of old. We say goodbye to Nick Oliveri (previous bassist), which I think is sad, because I... Read review

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