Collection: Stan Getz

Stanley Gayetski, born in Philadelphia in 1927, became one of jazz's most celebrated tenor saxophonists, nicknamed "The Sound" for his warm, lyrical tone that drew from Lester Young's wispy, mellow timbre. Starting professionally at 15 with Jack Teagarden's orchestra, Getz's breakthrough came in 1947 with Woody Herman's Second Herd as one of the "Four Brothers" saxophone section, his ethereally beautiful solo on "Early Autumn" (1948) establishing him as cool jazz's defining voice. Through the 1950s, he epitomised West Coast cool alongside Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, offering sun-kissed sophistication as an alternative to hard bop's urban intensity.

The 1960s brought Getz's second wave of fame when he introduced bossa nova to American audiences. Jazz Samba (1962) with guitarist Charlie Byrd, featuring "Desafinado", sold over one million copies and won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance. The landmark Getz/Gilberto (1963), recorded with João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, yielded the massive hit "The Girl from Ipanema" and won four Grammys including Album of the Year, edging out the Beatles. Though linked with bossa nova, Getz rarely returned to the form after the mid-1960s, instead exploring fusion with Chick Corea and maintaining his own quartets featuring Gary Burton's vibraphone. Inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1986, he taught at Stanford before his death in 1991.