Tag Archives: Gerry Mulligan

Grover Washington

On December 17, 1999, Grover Washington, Jr. died aged 56. He was musician (saxophone), composer and arranger, considered to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre. Some of his most popular works feature his own compositions and covers of “Mister Magic”, “Take Five”, “Soulful Strut”, “Reed Seed”, “Black Frost”, “Winelight”, “Inner City Blues” and “The Best is Yet to Come”.  In his career he has performed and recorded with many famous musicians, including Kathleen Battle, Kenny Burrell, Hank Crawford, Charles Earland, Dexter Gordon, Urbie Green, Eddie Henderson, Masaru Imada, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Idris Muhammad, Gerry Mulligan, Don Sebesky, Johnny “Hammond” Smith, Melvin Sparks, Leon Spencer, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Bill Withers and Patti LaBelle.

Stan Getz

On June 6, 1991, Stanley Getz, died aged 64. He wasmusician (primarily tenor saxophone), came to prominence in the late 40’s playing with Woody Herman’s big band, and went on performing bebop and cool jazz.  He became world known with his bossa nova period, in which he recorded few albums that promoted bossa nova worldwide, including “Jazz Samba (1962)”; “Big Band Bossa Nova (1962)”; “Jazz Samba Encore! (1963)” and “Getz/Gilberto (1963)”. In his career he performed with some of the most important jazz artists, including Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Joao Gilberto, Laurindo Almeida, Herb Alpert, Benny Goodman, Al Haig and Abbey Lincoln. Getz achieved big number of awards including five “Grammy Awards”:

  • Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance, Soloist or Small Group (Instrumental) “Desafinado,” Stan Getz. 1962
  • Grammy Award for Record of the Year, “The Girl From Ipanema,” 1964
  • Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz and João Gilberto (Verve) 1964
  • Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group or Soloist With Small Group, Getz/Gilberto, Stan Getz 1964
  • Grammy Award for Best Jazz Solo Performance, “I Remember You” Stan Getz 1991