Stanley Gayetski (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991), professionally known as Stan Getz, was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as “The Sound” because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman‘s big band, Getz is described by critic Scott Yanow as “one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists”. Getz performed in bebop and cool jazz groups. Influenced by João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim, he popularized bossa nova in the United States with the hit single “The Girl from Ipanema” (1964).

Stan Getz was born on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Getz’s father Al was born in Mile End, London, in 1904, while his mother Goldie (née Yampolsky) was born in Philadelphia in 1907. His paternal grandparents Harris and Beckie Gayetski were originally from the Kiev area of the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) but had migrated to escape the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire to Whitechapel, in the East End of London. While in England they owned the Harris Tailor Shop at 52 Oxford Street for more than 13 years. In 1913, Harris and Beckie emigrated to the United States with their three sons Al, Phil, and Ben, following their son Louis Gayetski who had emigrated to the US the year before.