Stan Getz - 'Sweet Rain' (2025 SACD reissue)

'Sweet Rain' was recorded on March 21 and 30, 1967, with producer Creed Taylor at Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

This is one of Stan's best recordings.  The "sidemen" were a trio of highly talented, up-and-coming, and experimental musicians: pianist Chick Corea, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Grady Tate. 

Chick Corea, plays only acoustic piano, and contributes fine, intricate solos.  Ron Carter was the bassist of choice for bands of this nature at the time, and Tate drums crisply, driving the band along while supporting it sympathetically.

As for Stan, he has rarely played better.  The opening track, "Litha" starts off as a slightly Latin based ballad but turns into an impassioned lengthy tenor solo. "O Grande Amor" is a beautiful Bossa Nova but much more flexible than would have been the case five or six years before, and "Sweet Rain", the Mike Gibbs composition, is a lengthy beautiful tune but with plenty of muscle underneath.  Much the same applies to "Con Alma", Dizzy Gillespie's old Latin number, which suits Stan down to the ground, and to which he gives a long, relaxed, if not particularly Latin treatment.

I've been told by many musicians, that during these sessions, Stan was having minor articulation issues due to his heroin, cocaine and alcohol use, which belied his clean cut "Ivy League" look.  My ears don't hear this at all.

 
The freeload, is a 24bit/96kHz rip of the Japanese 2025 limited edition remastered SACD, and sounds wonderful.

For the freeload, what was the last book you read?