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Joe Praml's jazz column/letter
Bill Evans-Stan Getz album But Beautiful April 9, 2015
Hi-- Sorry I've taken so long to get back to you. My curry took longer than I thought. I'm so careful when I cook, taking small tastes at a time, trying to get it just right, having complete trust in my ability to come up with something. I very rarely use recipes. And curries are really tricky to do, not just tossing in a bunch of spices. I use coconut milk, heavy cream, chicken stock, a bit of tomato paste for my base and then lots of spices. I have about ten jars of curries, and I use all of them in various degrees. I wrote out my thoughts on this Getz-Evans album (But Beautiful). This is not a critique, just my thoughts, and with a positive frame of mind. I really wanted to dig Getz. And I did. Thanks for bringing me back from the wilderness with this guy. Way back, still in my teens, when I was first getting into jazz, it was always Stan Getz who was my tenor. “You and the Night and the Music.” Works in nicely after the “Happy Birthday.” Really good blowing by Stan. Hell of a good group with him. Last Getz chorus. Doesn't seem to want to take it, but Bill Evans coaxes him into it. Stan isn't as good on this chorus as the previous ones. He’s thru with this number and wants to take some drags from his cigarette. Bill Evans then comes charging in for his own solo like a rogue elephant and nails down this tune. Drums and bass boot him along. When Gets comes in for the wrap up chorus he's all charged up as he should have been on the last one he blew, and it ends with emotion and power. But it's Evan's who is doing it, not Getz so much. “But Beautiful.” Stan hogs this number and doesn't really do anything with it. But then he gets out of the way and then Evans nails the song. When Getz comes back in it's almost like an interruption, like why the hell don't you let Evans go on with the piece a few more choruses? Getz ends it weakly for me. Big applause. Stan Getz the movie star with a tenor sax. “Emily.” Nice noodling. Good for getting a chick's knickers off. Give me Sinatra doing “Angel Eyes.” Better yet, give me Billie Holiday doing “Angel Eyes.” My knickers will get off too. I like the bass on this one, altho a few times the bass and Bill get in each other's way. Bill Evans really charged up on these sides. Tune becomes alive when he comes in with his solo. But too short. At least two choruses short. |
“Lover Man.” Ahh, at last. Some music. From Stan. Right from the opening with Bill Evans you just know this is going to be good, and Getz gets right into it. Best so far on these sides. “Lover Man.” Such a great song for jazz. If you can't cut it on this one, go on back to Walmart. But Stan does do it. No Walmart for him. For me, the best so far. I can hear that I've been wrong to be sarky about him. Go Stan! Yeah! Just a bit of Parker's “Mood” at the end of this solo, then thinks better of it and ends his solo just right. Bill wraps it up for him as if to say "Here Stan, this is yours." Big applause. Well deserved. Passion. That's what is abundant here all thru the piece. “Funkarello.” Kick ass time! This is the shit I like! Wham bam! Jazz! Bop. Get the fuck out of the way, here we come! OK Dean, you pretty much sold me on Stan Getz. He can really turn on the heat, Rollins like. No way Sonny's gonna blow this guy off the stand. And Bill Evans can be one up tempo aggressive MF when he wants to be, like he is here. He scoops up those notes from the piano and flings them out at us like bullets, perfect phrases. Good help from the drummer for all of them. And I do like that bass. Then after something like that is when I really need a ballad. And Stan does it here. He needed that weak up drive from the previous piece. And Bill Evans lays it out so beautifully for him. One chorus is all he needs. A huge amount of music. Then Stan wraps it up nicely. I'm glad I listened to this. I'll have to listen to it again in a week or so to see if my judgment was on par. This is the first time I've listened closely to Getz since his basso nova days. I'll have to listen to more, go on real Getz jag. At this moment I'm digging Getz with Coltrane, and some of Miles' group at that time. Stan hanging right in there. Wait a minute! That's Oscar Peterson on piano. Hey, it was great hearing from and talking to you again! --Joe But Beautiful is a jazz album by the Bill Evans Trio with Stan Getz, recorded live in Europe in 1974 and released in 1996. Bill Evans Trio (bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Marty Morell) and their guest Stan Getz. |