1927–91, American jazz tenor saxophonist, b. Philadelphia, Pa., as Stanley Gayetsky. As a mature musician he was especially known for his "cool" jazz style. He began playing as a teenager in Jack Teagarden's band, later appearing with bandleading greats Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman. His early playing was heavily influenced by Lester Young, and he recorded a number of singles with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan. During the 1960s Getz experimented with the Brazilian bossa nova sound, which was particularly suited to his breathy style and resulted in such hit records as "Desafinado" and "The Girl from Ipanema." His later work continued to be improvisational, expressive, emotional, and highly melodic, but with a somewhat harder edge.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

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