Stan Getz – Focus (LP Vinyl)
Product Details
Before bossa nova made him a household name, Getz was already pushing at the edges of what jazz improvisation could mean. Focus captures him at a creative peak, treating Eddie Sauter's orchestral compositions not as a backdrop but as a living conversation, responding in real time to written music he'd never rehearsed against. The spontaneity is audible in every phrase.
Focus, recorded at Webster Hall in New York City and released in 1961 on Verve Records, stands as a singular entry in saxophonist Stan Getz's discography. Focus pairs Getz's expressive tenor saxophone with a string orchestra conducted by Hershy Kay. Getz's parts were entirely improvised, as he navigated pre-composed frameworks with melodic invention and emotional clarity. The album represents a true collaboration between Sauter and Getz, and a radical departure from the conventions of jazz "with strings" albums of the time. Sauter's charts emphasize contrapuntal writing, rhythmic complexity, and harmonic ambiguity, while Getz - unedited and unrehearsed in the traditional sense - weaves a lyrical, instinctive line throughout. The result remains one of the most original and artistically daring projects in Getz's recorded legacy; the artist's favorite of all the records he made. The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.
Tracklist
Side A
Side B
UPC: 602478261718
Label: Verve
Release Date: 11.14.25
Format: LP Vinyl