Stan Getz Setup

[Vince]

Does anybody know what Stan Getz Setup was?

He advertised for Selmer so I presume he played a Selmer

His early photos show a metal mouthpiece whilst his later photos show a black mouthpiece which I presume is hard rubber or ebonite.

That's as far as my researches have taken me so far.

[heath]

Selmer Mk VI tenor.
Otto Link hard rubber #8
Vandoren reeds that were fairly hard.

[csax]

Vince (hello from a wet Dorset...) Got this lot from http://www.du.edu/lamont/Getz.html (Oh the power of Google..) Thanks to the original contributor for his hard work ! There's much more info there as well.

1945-1950: used a metal 4* Tone Master (Used during his stint with the Benny Goodman Band.)

1950-1954: used a White Streamline Brilhart mouthpiece #7.

1954-1956: used a Rubber Berg Larsen (used during an album Gerry Mulligan.)

1957-1971: began to use an early Florida Model rubber 5* in 1957 because it was easier to play ballads on. Used this model throughout the Bossa Nova sessions until the 1964 Carnegie Concert with Joao Gilberto where Stan used a rubber Vandoren T-20 mouthpiece because his sax and mouthpiece were stolen. Stan began using #5 strength reeds during the Bossa Nova years and the Chick Corea sessions in 1967-68.

1971-1974: Getz traded his Link for a modified Bobby Dukoff #5 Hollywood model and an old refaced metal Selmer C**.

1974-1988: Getz returned to his old set-up of the rubber Link by having two custom tailored Links, a refaced 7* Florida Model and a refaced early Babbitt 5*. The Babbitt was refaced by Ben Harrod.

1989-1991: Dissatisfied with the bulkiness of the Links Getz requested that material be taken off to make the Links skinnier and easier to play by his standards, until he was advised that taking off material on the beak of the mouthpiece would change its sound and timbre. So, he controversially switched to a Meyer Rubber 8S which was tailored to his request.

[silvin]

End of the thread.

[Pinnman]

I've no knowledge of this. but recall seeing it said that he played a BA. Heath, are you able to comment, please? (Sorry, Silvin, to re-open it!)

[1saxman]

cmelodysax; thanks for going to the trouble of looking that up and posting it. Really good info. I don't try to play/sound like Getz (who could?) but have always loved his sound and lyrical style. I think he played several kinds of Selmer Paris tenors, from the Balanced Action to Mk VI.

[Vince]

cmelodysax: Thank you for the info.

It's amazing that this sort of information is known especially for the earlier years.

I always wanted to sound like Stan Getz, but even if you get two players on exactly the same setup you are unlikely to get the same sound.

I was just wondering how my own setup compares with what Getz played, and now I have some idea.

I'm not really trying to emulate the Getz sound. I'm just trying to get some understanding of mouthpiece setups and the effect they have.

I understand the horn makes a difference too and I can't see myself ever owning a mark VI.

[jmm1713]

his main horn was usually a 97,xxx Mark Vi

[1saxman]

Vince; you don't need a MkVI. You can get a smooth, breathy, fluid Getz sound on any good tenor. It's all about how you play rather than what equipment you use, although obviously certain mouthpieces will help you get a certain sound more than others.

[Swingtone]

That's very true. Maceo Parker plays on an old Brilhart just like Getz did; and think about how much different his style and sound is, regardless of the fact he plays the alto.

[csax]

Hear the sound, and generate the embouchure and facial muscle-memory to produce the sound, much more important than the equipment. Also work on the breathing......

(Sorry 1saxman, I know you said much the same thing as well)

[joelsp]

His horn was on display in the media library at Berklee when I went there, not sure if it's still there. It was definitely a really nice Mark VI.

[Pete Thomas]

Vince (hello from a wet Dorset...)
1971-1974: Getz traded his Link for a modified Bobby Dukoff #5 Hollywood model and an old refaced metal Selmer C**.

That's interesting, in about 1970 he tried to buy my metal Selmer F from me.

[wmclean]

Never mind ... I found Pete's story on a different thread.

[Captain Beeflat]

Stan Getz also puffed out his cheeks and took in a huge length of his mouthpiece; I do not think however that these facts accounted for his sound any more than the equipment that he used.
cmelodysax has kindly told us of the range of mouthpieces that Getz used...yet he always sounded like Getz.

[ChuBerry47]

I really like getz. He has a ding in his Selmer neck, Which any other player would have had removed IMMEDIATELY!, and he said that he plays the cheapest reeds, because they all suck. Really I like his attitude. He is really the: if it ain't broke don't fix it, type.

[csax]

Stan Getz's attitude is a bit more extreme than that - At 'Ronnie Scotts' in London, Stan Getz criticised the well-respected Stan Tracey's piano playing over the microphone one night. Tracey's response was to shout "bollocks!"

"I wish I'd thought of that," Scott remembers, in his "SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE BLUES" book.

[daigle65]

....and he said that he plays the cheapest reeds, because they all suck....

I'm pretty sure he played traditional Vandorens (not the cheapest !).
It you have the duet album "People Time" with Kenny Barron (Getz's last recording I believe), look at the reeds on the floor on the last picture where he's sitting at the piano playing his tenor......hmmm,I guess they do suck if they're on the floor.

[ChuBerry47]

I thought that he buys ricos, but that must explain that he like vandorens more than the other!

[mattsax]

In conversation, Randy Jones told me that Stan Getz's sound was not from his horn, but his mouthpiece. When people ask about his sound, they generally mean to the sound he had during his Bossa Nova years, although not always.
As I recall, that was a silver-plated Mark VI which was stolen. Later he played a gold-plated Mark VI. This horn was restored by Emilo Lyons and presented
to the Berklee School of Music by Monica Getz and Herb Alpert. The proceedings were documented in Saxophone Journal some years ago.