Live At Zardi's 1956 Vol.2

On 22 and 27 June 1959, Stan Getz and his quartet gave two legendary concerts in a club on Hollywood Boulevard.

Saxophone players, pianists and singers all flocked to play the clubs and their sound resonated round the world from these sun-drenched settings. What drew all these jazz musicians of the time such as Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan and, of course, Stan Getz to these venues? They were escaping the chilly East Coast for both a warmer climate and a more relaxed environment than the tense South. It sustained a musical melting pot encouraged by a governor free of racial prejudice, the Republican Goodwin J. Knight, not to mention a booming labour market and the glamour of the movie industry – in a nutshell, the mythical appeal of the West Coast. Their favourite clubs: the Tiffany, the Haig, and most of all, the celebrated Zardi’s Jazzland, where Getz and his musicians performed these two evenings. The recordings remained unpublished on vinyl until this present edition.

In spring 2025 we came across the original tapes in the suburbs of Chicago. The set list of the two concerts is diverse but the line up is identical, with pianist Lou Levy, brilliantly representing the sound of the West Coast and whose style dovetailed perfectly with Getz’s budding forms of inspiration of that year, Max Bennett was on base and Gary Frommer on drums.

On June 27th, Stan performed 14 titles. From the irresistible ballad "Little Girl Blue", the Afro-Cuban theme composed by Dizzy Gillespie "A Night in Tunisia," to Gershwin's "Summertime," every single note was inspired. Stan possessed this unique gift of thinking, creating, imagining in advance, and then, when the time came, bringing fantasy, charm, rhythm, and spontaneity to life on stage.

That June 27, where the elegance and beauty of these melodies mingled with the scents and colours of the California sunset, was a resounding success for this magnificent quartet.

Stan Getz, saxophone
Lou Levy, piano
Max Bennett, bass
Gary Frommer, drums

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