Tenor Saxophone | 1927-1991

Stanley Gayetski, nicknamed "The Sound", was one of jazz's greatest tenor saxophonists, known for his warm, lyrical tone drawn from Lester Young's mellow timbre. Starting professionally at 15, Getz's breakthrough came in 1947 with Woody Herman's "Four Brothers" saxophone section, his ethereal 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 sophisticated alternatives to hard bop.

The 1960s brought his second wave of fame introducing bossa nova to America. Jazz Samba (1962) with Charlie Byrd, featuring "Desafinado", sold over one million copies and won a Grammy. The landmark Getz/Gilberto (1963) with João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim yielded "The Girl from Ipanema" and won four Grammys including Album of the Year. Though linked with bossa nova, Getz explored fusion with Chick Corea in the 1970s before returning to acoustic jazz in the 1980s. Inducted into DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame (1986), he taught at Stanford until his death in 1991, remaining universally accepted among jazz's greatest soloists.