Song:It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Album:Gold
Of course Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie were two of the all time greats of jazz. Before he had mainstream success in the 60s, Getz was an up and comer. Gillespie was older and more established. Gillespie was impressed with Getz and he really wanted to record an album with him. The 1953 album Diz and Getz was recorded right after Gillespie's famed Massey Hall concert. Gillespie had just signed with Verve/Norgran and he thought recording with Getz would make a big splash. Getz was already recording for Verve. The album was recorded Dec. 9, 1953 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. The band was the Verve Records house band, Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and Max Roach on drums. The Duke Ellington standard It Don't Mean A Thing kicks off the album and sets a great pace for the rest of the album. Peterson has said that Gillespie really wanted to push Getz and find out what he was made of. The album was very successful. One track on the album, One Alone, was recorded a few months later with a different band featuring Hank Mobley. I don't know why Norman Granz did that. There are enough outtakes from this album that the version available on CD has six bonus tracks and there are bootlegs of the outtakes out there too. I suggest this 2CD Stan Getz budget comp as a good intro to his music. This album was more important for his career anyway. Getz and Gillespie would record together on the 1956 album For Musicians Only also featuring Sonny Stitt on alto sax. And they would cross paths and play one off shows at jazz festivals. Here's Dizzy Gillespie with Stan Getz, Arnie Lawrence, John Lewis, George Duvivier and Shelly Manne performing It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) at the 1979 Nice Jazz Festival in France. This is on the DVD Jazz Collection: The Legends Series.
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