50 Year Old Sealed Copy Of Stan Getz's "Sweet Rain" LP

Sweet Rain

Stan Getz

1967, mono

Verve V-8693

Wow, it doesn't get any better than this. A couple of days ago, while going through some LPs at an antiques store not too far from my home, I came across a sealed copy of the 1967 Verve release Sweet Rain by tenor sax great Stan Getz. Think about that. This record has been sitting somewhere for 50 years, perfectly preserved in its original shrink wrap. The price was a steal at $30 (a sealed copy sold for $239 on Ebay in 2013), so I brought it home. I know that some people like to leave the open shrink wrap on their records, but since I store all my albums in poly outer sleeves, I always remove the shrink. Plus it's a gatefold album, and there would be no way to read the liner notes and other info inside if I didn't remove the plastic. But before I did, I took a picture of the price sticker that was still on the back, which shows that the album had been marked down from its original release price of $4.79, to $1.98. Talk about a steal!

Wikipedia tells us that Getz was born in Philadelphia on February 2, 1927 (which makes it the 90th anniversary of his birth in just a couple of weeks). He was the grandson of Ukrainian immigrants who came to America in 1913. His parents moved the family to New York City to find work during the depression. While still a young boy, Getz showed great promise musically, and when he was 13, his father bought him a saxophone. He practiced eight hours a day, and showed such promise that he was accepted into the All City High School Orchestra.

In 1943, at the age of 16, Getz joined Jack Teagarden's band, and because of his youth, he became Teagarden's ward. Getz also played with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton. After playing for Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman, Getz was a soloist with Woody Herman's band  from 1947-1948. He gained wide attention as part of the band's saxophone section, which was collectively known as the "four brothers." One of the other "brothers" was Zoot Sims. Owing to his reputation with Herman's band, Getz was able to launch his solo career, and by 1950, he was leading his own recording sessions.  

Getz spent most of the second half of the 50s in Europe, honing his chops playing and recording with countless jazz greats, including Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith and Oscar Peterson. 

Back in the U.S. in 1961, Getz teamed up with Charlie Byrd and became a central figure in introducing Brazilian bossa nova music to the American audience. He recorded Jazz Samba in 1962, which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Performance and sold more than one million copies. He quickly followed up that album with Big Band Bossa Nova, and then Jazz Samba Encore! In 1963, Getz recorded the seminal album Getz/Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Joao Gilberto and Gilberto's wife, singer Astrud Gilberto. The hit single from that album, "The Girl From Ipanema," won a Grammy and became one of the most popular Latin jazz tracks of all time. Two live albums, Getz/Gilberto Vol. 2 and Getz Au Go Go came out in 1964. Unfortunately, during this time Getz and Astrud Gilberto began having an affair, which put an end to his collaboration with Joao.

By the mid 60s, bossa nova was losing steam, so Getz moved back toward more traditional jazz. Which set the stage for his 1967 recording, Sweet Rain. In his review on AllMusic, Steve Huey says that Sweet Rain is "one of Getz's all-time greatest albums. Sweet Rain was his first major artistic coup after he closed the book on his bossa nova period. The album features an adventurous young group that pushed him to new heights in his solo statements." The all-star band was made up of pianist Chick Corea, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Grady Tate. Huey goes on to say that "Getz plays with a searching, aching passion throughout the date. . . The quartet's level of musicianship remains high on every selection, and the marvelously consistent atmosphere the album evokes places it among Getz's very best. A surefire classic." 

I couldn't have said it better myself, so I didn't even try. And to top it off, the sound of the Verve LP is stunning. But what would you expect from an album produced by the great Creed Taylor and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder? The session was recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. on March 30, 1967. The engineer was the legendary Val Valentin. The labels have the classic Verve black and silver design which I call the "thumbtack" logo for obvious reasons. 

As you may recall if you read my earlier post about the Verve release of Anita O'Day, Verve Records was founded by Norman Granz in 1956. He sold the label to MGM Records in December of 1960, which is why the rim text at the bottom of the labels above reads: "MGM Records-A Division of Metro-Goldwin-Mayer, Inc. - Made in U.S.A." The vinyl is absolutely flawless, not a tick on either side. And the mono sound is fabulous. 

The inside left panel has credits and recording information.

The matrix info for the album is:

Side 1: V-8693 MG-944 32 VAN GELDER 1-8693
Side 2: V-8693 MG-945 15 VAN GELDER "S" (MGM stamp)

This is truly one of those holy grail finds that every record collector dreams of and that makes collecting so rewarding. Sure, I could have bought the CD online. But how can you compare a digital file to the experience of opening a 50-year-old record, seeing the inner sleeve with ads for contemporary LPs, reading the liner notes and credits, and then enjoying the amazing sound of vinyl. 

Enjoy the music!