Today I am listening to the gem of all of the Stan Getz records, Getz/Gilberto, featuring the stellar "Girl From Ipanema" with Astrud Gilberto. She must have been in the right place at the right time, being the wife of Joao Gilberto. Wikipedia says she had never sung professionally before this recording. You would have to live under a rock to not know this version. Until now, I may have guessed this song was originally by Burt Bacharach. I got some learning to do.

     It is raining today and this album goes perfect with the weather! I got a feeling I would love it in any weather scenario. I'll reveal some more of my ignorance here, but I never thought of samba as jazz. Where is the improvisation? Where are the alternating instruments playing against and with each other at the same time? Definite melodies are audible on every song. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Perhaps this kind of jazz is where smooth jazz came from. It is smooth and syncopated.

    In an effort to stay motivated to keep at this blog, I reached out to a real jazz blogger, Doug Ramsey, author of Rifftides. He caught a few errors I made when I assumed I knew something I obviously didn't. I laugh at myself now, because this may have been a dumb move. I am certainly writing about something I know nothing about. All I know is that I love it and I want to learn. J.J. Johnson played a trombone, not a trumpet. I said trumpet because I looked at the picture on the record. Surely all of the years I have spent in orchestras and music, I could have figured that out. OR, I could read the liner notes more carefully. This was one of the first things I thought I learned this week. Next, Charlie Byrd is not Charlie Parker. and therefore, was not portrayed by Forrest Whitaker in the movie I saw. Luckily, I am not the only person to make this mistake. Parker was nicknamed, "Bird,"Thanks, Doug Ramsey!

     I could just jump back on those posts and edit myself to appear smarter than I am. But this blog is real and so am I. Take me for all of my imperfections and please correct me if I am wrong. How else will I know?

     Back to the conundrum I have over telling Getz from any other tenor sax player. Yesterday, I created a new Pandora channel of Stan Getz. I closed my eyes and tried to guess if I heard him. I am probably years away from mastering that technique, but I did notice a real difference between Getz and Coltrane. Coltrane really blows hard. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but even on his ballads, there was a loudness and aggressiveness that I don't get with Getz. Getz is a master of fluidity. Coltrane is more punk rock. For some reason, there is no Coltrane in my part of Dad's vinyl collection. I know he had some. Mom kept some of his records and unfortunately my parents lived through several hurricanes that may have injured some of his other records. I don't mean unfortunately my parents lived through the hurricanes, I mean unfortunately, the records did not.

     I also learned there is a new Wayne Shorter album. He is 79-years old and taken some of his old songs and jazzed them up even more. I listened to an interview he did with NPR about playing with Miles Davis. He claims they never talked about music. They literally made the music as they played it. That is what dumbfounds me about this genre. I have a few Wayne Shorter vinyl records, including some Jazz Messengers I will dig up for the next blog. I'm sure I'll come back to Getz a few more times. I want more!