questions on the Stan Getz Biography

[Junbste]

Is this a book worth pursuing? Has anyone read it? I would appreciate
all the rmb opinions I can get.

Thank You,
Bryan

[Self Doc]

This is very worth reading. The author has done a fine job of documenting
Getz' rise to fame, especially the early years and his personal life.
Unfortunately Stan was not very likeable most of his life because of his
substance abuse and personality disorder problems. In reading the book
one finds out almost more than they want to know about him! In many ways
I would prefer just to evaluate him by his music. But now I know who he
really was and I will never listen to him in the same way again.
Ken Koenig (sel...@aol.com)

[DLTerm]

I was skimming through it last week at my fathers house, and it looked
very interesting.
I asked my dad, who was a knew Getz for over twenty years, what he thought
of the book. He said that it was well done.
Dave

[XysterQ]

In message <4mdidn$d...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Junbste wrote:

>Subject: questions on the Stan Getz Biography

>Is this a book worth pursuing? Has anyone read it? I would appreciate
>all the rmb opinions I can get.

I was laid up last week-end with some back problems. Drag, but it gave me
a chance to read through the Maggin bio of Stan. Having known Stan, and
having played with him from 1981-88, I must say that the book gives a
pretty accurate portrayal of the guy I knew.
I'd heard Stan tell many of the stories in the book relating to the
Teagarden and Woody years. I also remember him telling me about the Spike
Milligan/Peter Sellers escapade in the Thames, and a number of other
anecdotes which appear in the book. Understandably, I never heard him go
into any detail about Beverly, and the early days of his family with her.
It's a pretty grim story. I've heard other stories from his
contemporaries about his junkie days. He was one of the worst. To his
credit, Stan finally faced up to a Big Truth: Heroin sucks; junkies suck.
PERIOD. You either face up to this truth or you die.
There _are_ sections of the book which contain surprises for me. Most
notably, the part about Monica's ancestors in Sweden. It was also an
eye-opener to find out what "The Quartet" was paid for certain gigs during
my tenure with the group. Rest assured that my fellow sidemen and I saw a
very small portion of this money!
I think that some of Stan's fans who were not aware of his various
addictions will be shocked by parts of the book. They may also be
surprised that a man who made so much beautiful music could, at times, be
such a drag to people close to him. Stan was certainly neither the first
nor last artist capable of creating a world in which beauty, structure,
passion, and order are balanced to absolute perfection through some
artistic medium, while their personal center seethes with demons whom they
can barely name, much less control. Throw in a handsome face, _immense_
musical gifts, stardom at 17 (remember that the latest crop of "Young
Lions" didn't invent teen-age jazz stardom!), years of being sucked up to
by all kinds of sycophants, hangers-on, and wanna-be's..........this was
not life as most of us know it or live it!
One of the big lessons I learned from Stan was that you simply cannot
equate a person's artistic output with their personal core. We are
capable of being seduced by all manner of great performers: musicians,
actors, comedians, politicians, and prostitutes. After we've paid our tab,
if we want to meet the person behind the mask, it's wise to forget about
what we've just heard or seen. Approach this real person openly, perhaps
a littly warily. You may be in for a surprise. But don't _be_ surprised!
That real person might just be terrified to open up to you, and might do
something nasty just to get you away from them.
By the time I got to know Stan and play with him, some of his demons had
been controlled. He was making genuine attempts, with occasional success,
at controlling some of his other devils. If the truth be told, much of
the time I was on the road or bandstand with him, we had a great time. It
sounds dumb, but one of my fondest memories of the man is sitting around
his swimming pool with him and Adam Nussbaum, with Stan reading from
"Truly Tasteless Jokes". As Adam and I and others from those days have
said, if Stan walked into this room right now, we could all have a jolly
old time for a while. After that, well.............As the disclaimer in
"The New Yorker" club listings states: "Club-owners and musicians lead
complicated lives......"
I suppose that this is a side of Stan I would like to have seen mentioned
a little more in the book. It also seems that as the book goes on, the
writing becomes more "wooden": it becomes less actual _writing_, and more
just a laundry list of things that happened; especially re/the
Divorce-to-End-All-Divorces.
But the overall picture is accurate. We all have talents; we all have
faults. In Stan's case these were each magnified a hundred fold. He was
a supreme drag to many people, myself included. On the other hand, the
feeling of playing "Blood Count" with him before a packed house at
Carnegie Hall is something I'll never forget. Humans; go figure........

Jim McNeely

[SBarbarian]

What a nice thread on Getz, Jim McNeely!! Thank you. I, too, knew him
(rather well at one point) and couldn't agree more that one had to be very
wary around Stan. No one who ever knew him more than casually was ever
heard (to my knowledge) to call him "a nice guy."

But, Jesus, he could play!!

Thanks again

[MKlemanbop]

Many thanks for your first hand insights. I met Stan twice through a
mutual friend and found him to be absolutely charming. Although I never
pursued becoming a professional musician, when I was a teenager, I spoke
with Stan about troubles I was having with improvisation, etc. He
couldn't have been more encouraging, stating that all musicians hit
plateaus and then have to strive to go beyond. I also heard from
musicians/friends of Stan's "other" side. What I have learned over the
years is that both good and bad can be part of a person; Stan played like
an angel, could be extremely encouraging and then also be a horrible human
being. All things are true.

[Jerry Atkins]

After I read the Getz biography I was very distressed. Jim McNeely's
posting is very much appreciated since it confirmed things I suppose most
of us knew but never wanted to acknowledge. I met Stan a few times but
the most important time was when he played the Caravan of Dreams in Fort
Worth. Jim was the pianist and I believe Rufus Reid and Ralph Penland
were the other members of the quartet. My wife and I had prearranged to
meet Stan and have dinner on Saturday night. From the book I have able
to exactly pinpoint the time in Stan's life which was traumatic.. He was
facing the surgery and he was eating only very specially prepared food.
We talked about many things and especially his days in Copenhagen and
Arne Astrup's discography. It was through Arne that I established a
friendship with Stan and I printed the first edition of the discography
when Arne first visited the United States. I believe that Arne and his
wife knew Monica in her early years. She (and Stan) often visited their
home. Plans for the discography grew out of those visits and Arne's
dedication. Back to the night in FW, Stan couldn't have been nicer to us
and put us almost under Jim's piano for both sets. Many things Stan said
were regrets about his life and I'm so happy that he discussed it with us.
He lived for quite some time after that but he knew he was buying time.
Photos that Arne sent me from Stan's and Kenny Barron's return to
Copenhagen and his description of Stan's condition between sets back
stage was sad. I just wanted to say something on the good side.
Telephone calls between us after that were usually Stan wanting more
copies of the then current discography for distribution at Stanford. He
also had met Kim Park who was the son of the wonderful saxophonist, John
Park who had died far too young. Stan was kind enough to write a
testimonial to John on the LP that two of us got out. Copies of the
third discography of Arne's always seem to be hard to find. I have
written to him and soon may have the best source. I have one last
question about writer Donald Maggin. I only know the few facts on the
book's dust cover. I wonder if he ever met Stan?. He acknowledges the
importance of using Arne's discography. I hope that he sent a copy of
the bio to him.