Sweet Rain [Slimline]

Performer: Stan Getz
Artist: Chick Corea; Ron Carter; Billy Hart; Grady Tate; Stanley Clarke; George Mraz; Tony Williams
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Stan Getz (tenor saxophone); Albert Daily (piano); Chick Corea (electric piano); Stanley Clarke, George Mraz (bass); Tony Williams, Billy Hart (drums). Principally recorded live at The Salle Wagram, New York, New York in November 1969. This 1967 date ranks among Stan Getz's finest. In addition to the iconic saxophonist's masterfully modulated style and classic cool tone, SWEET RAIN offers the unique opportunity to hear Getz play with a modern rhythm section that pushes the envelope, avant '60s-style. On this session, bassist Ron Carter, pianist Chick Corea, and drummer Grady Tate utilize near-free-jazz technique to situate Getz's playing in a highly fluid setting. The tracks list consists of two Corea originals, covers of tunes by Dizzy Gillespie and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Mike Gibbs's gorgeous title tune. The level of interplay is at a high, kinetic crackle throughout, even--maybe especially--when the musicians make ample use of space. The 2008 reissue with remastered sound only improves what is already a jazz classic front to back. One of Stan Getz's all-time greatest albums, Sweet Rain was his first major artistic coup after he closed the book on his bossa nova period, featuring an adventurous young group that pushed him to new heights in his solo statements. Pianist Chick Corea, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Grady Tate were all schooled in '60s concepts of rhythm-section freedom, and their continually stimulating interplay helps open things up for Getz to embark on some long, soulful explorations (four of the five tracks are over seven minutes). The neat trick of Sweet Rain is that the advanced rhythm section work remains balanced with Getz's customary loveliness and lyricism. Indeed, Getz plays with a searching, aching passion throughout the date, which undoubtedly helped Mike Gibbs' title track become a standard after Getz's tender treatment here. Technical perfectionists will hear a few squeaks on the LP's second half (Getz's drug problems were reputedly affecting his articulation somewhat), but Getz was such a master of mood, tone, and pacing that his ideas and emotions are communicated far too clearly to nit-pick. Corea's spare, understated work leaves plenty of room for Getz's lines and the busily shifting rhythms of the bass and drums, heard to best effect in Corea's challenging opener "Litha." Aside from that and the title track, the repertoire features another Corea original ("Windows"), the typically lovely Jobim tune "O Grande Amor," and Dizzy Gillespie's Latin-flavored "Con Alma." 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. ~ Steve Huey

Mojo (Publisher) (p.116) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Corea's originals push Stan to fresh heights. 'Litha' and 'Windows' inspire playing of singing, rough-hewn beauty and unruffled brilliance from the saxophonist." Record Collector (magazine) (p.103) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] dazzling straightahead quartet date featuring Chick Corea on piano. Magical stuff."

Tenor saxophonist Stan Getz possessed a full, luxuriant tone and a highly melodic improvisational sense. Though he produced consistently rewarding music for the duration of his near 50-year career, he achieved the greatest success in the early '60s when he led the American part of the bossa nova explosion. Indeed, this brilliant fusion of jazz and Brazilian rhythms yielded the tune, "The Girl From Ipanema," which became one of the biggest selling jazz records in history.

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