Getz / Gilberto ‘76

Album review

Having reunited for 1976's The Best of Two Worlds, saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian singer/guitarist João Gilberto celebrated the album's release with a week of shows at San Francisco's Keystone Corner. Marking over a decade since the pair had made history with 1964's landmark Getz/Gilberto album, the shows, which took place between May 11-16, 1976, would prove one of the rare times they appeared live together. Resonance Records' 2016 album, Getz/Gilberto '76 (and the separate release Moments in Time), documents these shows via live recordings made by Keystone Korner club owner Todd Barkan. Produced by Barkan and Resonance's Zev Feldman, Getz/Gilberto '76 is a superb package featuring not only some of Getz and Gilberto's best live performances of the period, but also liner notes from Feldman, Barkan, and others, as well as interviews with bandmembers like drummer Billy Hart and pianist Joanne Brackeen. The '70s were a fruitful time for Getz, a star of the cool jazz scene who had been playing professionally since the '40s. While he achieved fame and wealth with his innovative bossa nova albums during the '60s, he remained creatively hungry as the years wore on, surrounding himself with young, forward-thinking jazz musicians like Hart, Brackeen, and bassist Clint Houston, who also appears here. Despite this contemporary attitude, Getz and his band were more than amenable to backing the enigmatic Gilberto, who appears here in a variety of settings, from solo to duo to accompaniment by the full band. What's particularly fascinating is hearing how the band adjusts to Gilberto's distinctive and subtle phrasing, his steady guitar pulse anchoring his delicate, fluid vocal melodies. While cuts like "Chega de Saudade" and "Doralice" retain all the warmth and beauty of the original 1964 recordings, at the Keystone Getz and his band color them in surprising yet still thoughtful ways. The result is an evening of organic, dreamlike splendor.
© Matt Collar /TiVo