This is part of Verve's Quiet Now series.

Personnel: Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Joao Gilberto (vocals, guitar); Astrud Gilberto (vocals); Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bill Evans (piano).

The Stan Getz volume in Verve's Quiet Now series is a stellar collection of ballads from the '50s and '60s when Getz and his bands led jazz polls continually. His bossa material, which is his best known, is represented here by three cuts -- and no, "Girl from Ipanema" is not one of them -- including "Corcovado." That said, it's his interpretations of standards such as "Little Girl Blue," "It Never Entered My Mind," "Sweet Rain," and "Serenade in Blue" that the great tenorman's true lyrical gift comes into play. Getz, who had all the chops to burn down the barn, is heard here in the shining light of restraint, where his airy tone drenched in fluid blues offers a poet's sense of gentility and elegance. This is one of the finest collections in the entire Verve series and paints a vivid portrait of the artist as a melodist of the highest ability. ~ Thom Jurek