Captain Marvel

by Stan Getz

Product Description:

Personnel: Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Chick Corea (Fender Rhodes piano); Stanley Clarke (acoustic bass); Tony Williams (drums); Airto Moreira (percussion).

Recorded at A&R Studios, New York, New York on March 3, 1972. Includes liner notes by Chick Corea, Albert Goldman.

In the early 1970s, jazz tenor sax icon Stan Getz was clearly not standing still. While some other players of his generation were content to do (and re-do) what they'd done in the past, Getz got together with some of the best cutting-edge talent, all of whom (Corea, Williams, Moreira) had been in the bands of fellow legend Miles Davis. Also featured is Stanley Clarke, here only 20 years old and about to become one of the jazz fusion movement's biggest stars.

Except for the lovely Billy Strayhorn ballad "Lush Life," all the compositions are by Corea, and would later on be heard in his own Return to Forever band. There's an infectious, joyous, Latin-tinged lilt to the tunes, which inspires Getz to some of the best playing of his career. His tone retains the "cool" by which he's been characterized--but he blows hot, too. Getz's playing on "500 Miles High" is focused ferocity. This album, unavailable for years, is one of Getz's (and Corea's) best.