Stan Kenton Conducts The Jazz Compositions Of Dee Barton [Remastered] - Stan Kenton

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: 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: One of the great rock-folk albums and a timeless classic
Disadvantages: Only one or two weak moments

..., but I think all great albums have the odd bad composition, even Sergeant Pepper had some pretty duff tracks. On the remastered 2001 edition four bonus tracks have been added: "Living in the Past; Driving Song; Sweet Dream and '17'". 'Living in the Past' and 'Sweet Dream' are welcome additions originally released as B-sides to single releases. The other two tracks are reasonable additions, but for me don't really add to the magic of the original release. As for the rest of the tracks there are some real. Personally I prefer the lighter acoustic ballads. I love the summery feel of the folk-rock ballad "Look Into the Sun" with its pensive introspective lyrics and the 7th track, the effervescent "Fat Man", with its strongly Eastern influenced percussion section and chirpy balalaika melody. The penultimate track on the original release... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful