Stan Getz – Focus: Verve Vault Series (180g Vinyl LP)

Stan Getz’s Focus Reissued for the Verve Vault Series: Newly Mastered from the Original Analog Tapes and Pressed at Optimal in Germany.

Focus, recorded at Webster Hall in New York City and released in 1961 on Verve Records, stands as a singular entry in saxophonist Stan Getz’s discography. Focus pairs Getz’s expressive tenor saxophone with a string orchestra conducted by Hershy Kay. Getz’s parts were entirely improvised, as he navigated pre-composed frameworks with melodic invention and emotional clarity. The album represents a true collaboration between composer/arranger Eddie Sauter and Getz, and a radical departure from the conventions of jazz “with strings” albums of the time. Sauter’s charts emphasize contrapuntal writing, rhythmic complexity, and harmonic ambiguity, while Getz — unedited and unrehearsed in the traditional sense — weaves a lyrical, instinctive line throughout. The result remains one of the most original and artistically daring projects in Getz’s recorded legacy; the artist’s favorite of all the records he made.

The Verve Vault Series is always mastered from analog tapes and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Musicians:
Stan Getz – Tenor Saxophone
Steve Kuhn – Piano
John Neves – Bass
Roy Haynes – Drums
Bruce Rogers – Cello
Alan Martin, Gerald Tarack, Norman Carr – Violin
Jacob Glick – Viola

Side A:

1. I’m Late, I’m Late
2. Her
3. Pan

Side B:

1. I Remember When
2. Night Rider
3. Once Upon A Time
4. A Summer Afternoon