Stan Getz Day
Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as “The Sound” because of his warm, lyrical tone, 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 America with the hit single “The Girl from Ipanema” (1964).
Getz was born Stanley Gayetski on February 2, 1927, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Philadelphia. His grandparents Harris and Beckie Gayetski were from the Kiev area of Ukraine but migrated to Whitechapel, in the East End of London, and 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 after their son Louis Gayetski in 1912. Getz’s father Al was born in Mile End, London, England in 1904 and his mother Goldie Yampolsky in Philadelphia in 1907.