Customer Reviews

Cafe Montmartre

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nothing new here, just some of the best live jazz of the 80's and 90's. All of these tracks look like they are taken from the three (excellent) previously released albums Stan recorded live at Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen with Kenny Barron, 'Anniversary', 'Serenity', and 'People Time'. This is not "80's Jazz", or even "90's Jazz". This is just classic jazz. Stan plays much better here than in any of his 60's studio albums, and Kenny Barron proves why he is probably the best accompanist ever.

These recordings, played on a good stereo, will really transport you to the Cafe Montmartre. (I heard from a Danish friend a few years ago that the cafe has sadly closed). You can hear the occassional clinking of dishes, and the applause is warm and close. You'll be clapping too.

Many of the current flock of compilations of Stan Getz come from earlier music, especially from the 1960's. This group is taken from his last recordings, late 80's-90's, including, arguably, his finest album "Anniversary", and "Serenity" recorded on his sixtieth birthday, at the apex of his abilities, and "People Time" recorded months before his death, some four years after. All were recorded live at the "Cafe Montmartre", one of his favorite venues from his ex-patriot days.

The music is all ballads: breathtakingly beautiful, heartfelt and poignant, deeply expressive, romantic, and sad. Ballads, of course, were his forte. The magnificent "Sound" is still there, as always, but the "Cool", aloof style of his earlier years has been replaced by deep emotional truth. While up tempo songs may are technically difficult, ballads expose the depth of the soul.

While this is a great album and a wonderful introduction to his work, if you like the music here, do buy the original albums listed above. In concert, Stan always offset the ballads with upbeat songs, which made them stand out in relief. I feel they are more meaningful when presented this way.

I should add that Jazz's greatest trumpeter, Miles Davis, everything he recorded is currently available. Sadly for Stan, the Jazz's greatest sax man, the original albums are vanishing to be replaced by a series of overlaping "best of's".

Get the originals while you can. He is the best.

What is characterized by Getz in his last years is his clear expression, his ability to play a story instead of just an atmosphere.

Cafe Montmartre is the name of an old Danish jazz cafe where these songs were recorded. All of them are ballads collected from Getz' albums People Time, Anniversary, and Serenity. Anniversary and Serenity were recorded in 1987 with a band consisting of pianist Kenny Barron, bass player Rufus Reid, and drummer Victor Lewis. People Time is the music from a series of concerts in 1991, not long before Getz' death. The music is full of intimacy, strong expression, and lovely notes. Getz surely lives up to what he himself said: "I never played a note I didn't feel intimately, and I'd like that to be my epitaph."

If you listen to this album more than once, and you'll want to when you hear it the first time, you'll never forget what he tells you. It sure doesn't hurt that the other musicians does a really good job too.

It is not implied by the album title, but this is in fact a collection of some of Stan Getz's best ballad playing from late in his career (they all happen to be taken from live albums recorded at the Cafe Montmartre) . Ballads are harder than anything else in jazz. The slow tempi and complex chords leave the soloist with little to hide behind, and require the greatest sensitivity and taste to approach correctly. Getz was one of the masters of this elusive and sadly, overlooked facet of jazz music. The performances here; esp. People Time, Soul Eyes, I Remember Clifford and Song for Ruth, can be compared to Cannonball Adderley's Star's Fell Over Alabama, or Miles Davis' Blue in Green and Flamenco Sketches in terms of their artistic beauty and perfection. This is the real deal, the very essence of what jazz is and should always be.

The creative vein and the untiring musical imagination of Stan Getz seemed to shine with majuscule intensity in his last year of life. This album offers Stan not only playing his sax with mesmerizing virtuosity but with a sort of weird intuition the time for him was fading.

For all Stan Getz admirers all over the world, this album must be part of their invaluable collection.

I WAS A YOUNG MAN IN VEGAS WORKING AND LIVING IN LA . I HEARD THE PLAYING AND BOUNCIE ,SMOOTH TONES OF CHET AND IT GREW ON ME.HE HAD TALENT AND WAS SO RELAXED IN HIS MUSICAL DELIVERIES WHEN HE PERFORMED. ALL OF THE WRITEINS THAT ARE SO CRITICAL OF HIS ABILITIES SHOULD NOT LISTEN. OR I SUGGEST THEY TRY AND SING OR PLAY THE HORNS AS WELL AS MR BAKER.