Stan Getz歌手简介:
斯坦·盖茨是最伟大的次中音萨克斯演奏家之一,他能演奏出世界上最美妙的音色。盖茨最大贡献是他对爵士与巴西音乐相融合的BOSSA NOVA风格的推广,使更多的人群喜欢上了这种音乐。或者说使更多的人通过BOSSA NOVA这种轻松时尚的音乐喜欢上了爵士乐。
盖茨于1927年出生在美国费城的一个具有俄国血统的家庭。在童年的时候,他随父母搬到了纽约。三十年代末的美国正在从大萧条的低谷中走出来,一派“好日子”再现的景象,欢快的音乐充斥着纽约城大大小小的酒吧和俱乐部。受到周围环境的启蒙,盖茨从很小就开始学习乐器。在玩过几种乐器之后,他的父亲在十三岁那年为他买了第一把萨克斯。在开始两年,他每天练习八个小时。盖茨家租住的房子很狭窄,他有时只能在厕所里练习。他经常能听到有邻居喊道:“叫那个孩子住嘴!”每当这时,他的妈妈就会冲着外边回敬:“斯坦利!再吹大点声!”
盖茨早期的音乐影响来自当时著名的萨克斯演奏家列斯特·扬。十五岁起,盖茨已经开始他的职业音乐生涯了。1944年到1947年间,他参加了一些很有名气的音乐人所领导的大乐队,如杰克·提咖登(Jack Teagarden),斯坦·肯顿(Stan Kenton),本尼·古德曼(Benny Goodman)和吉米·多塞(Jimmy Dorsey)等。马不停蹄的巡演和录音让盖茨在实际的演奏当中获得了很多的经验,并从提咖登和古德曼等大师所吹奏出的声音中受到潜移默化的影响,慢慢发展形成自己的音色。1947年,盖茨加入伍迪·赫曼(Woody Herman)的“第二群”(Second Herd)乐队,他与乐队的其他几位萨克斯手祖特·西姆斯(Zoot Sims),塞尔治·卡洛夫(Serge Chaloff)和赫比·斯图尔德(Herbie Steward)组合在一起被人称为“四兄弟”(Four Brothers)。从他们原创的曲子《四兄弟》中能听到盖茨精彩的独奏。另外,在劳夫·伯恩斯(Ralph Burns)的抒情曲《早来的秋天》(Early Autumn)中,盖茨也演奏出了清澈完美的即兴SOLO。正是这两首乐曲帮助盖茨逐渐成为了受人注目的演奏者。
五十年代初,盖茨摆脱了列斯特·扬的风格。他组建了自己的乐队,他成为当时“西海岸”乐风的主要倡导者。1950年和51年他有两个主要的四重奏乐队,一个是和查理·帕克乐队的节奏组成员组成的,在另一个乐队中他使用了新发现的一个年轻萨克斯手豪瑞斯·休佛尔(Horace Silver)。后来休佛尔也成为影响了众多萨克斯演奏者的大师。
1951年,盖茨从瑞典巡演回来之后,又与吉他手Jimmy Raney组成了一个五重奏,他们在演奏中的互动与配合十分默契,不论是在节奏欢快还是慢板抒情的曲子上都有着令人难忘的即兴演奏。两年后,他与长号手鲍勃·布鲁克麦耶尔(Bob Brookmeyer)的合作的乐队更加走红,使他成为在各类媒体排行都名列前茅的爵士演奏家。
1950年代后期,盖茨的事业不太顺利。像很多其他爵士音乐家一样,他也没逃过毒品和酒精的困扰。经过了两年在丹麦的低调生活之后,盖茨重返美国。他回到爵士乐坛所做的第一件事就是与作曲家埃迪·索特尔(Eddie Sauter)合作。盖茨是个纯粹的演奏者,他不懂得作曲,因此他总是希望能找到了解他的声音的人来为他创作音乐。他厌烦了重新编配和演奏那些老曲子,他想演奏一些新鲜的东西,因此他选择了索特尔。他和索特尔的管弦乐队录制了唱片《焦点》(FOCUS)。这是一张受到争议的专辑,有人认为盖茨带动了爵士乐的新的发展方向,有人则认为爵士与管弦乐的结合完全是个错误,没有可取之处,但不论评论是怎样的,《焦点》一直是盖茨自己最喜欢的一张唱片。这张唱片后来也启发了著名作曲家波恩斯坦,他也为盖茨创作了一部管弦乐作品。
1962年,盖茨又转向了新的尝试。早在五十年代,像迪兹·吉莱斯皮这样的Bop乐者就已经开始在他们的音乐中融入拉丁音乐的因素。拉丁音乐的节奏和律动吸引着很多爵士音乐家去挖掘。在五十年代末,一些巴西音乐家用爵士和声与桑巴节奏相结合,创造出一种新的音乐形式,被称为BOSSA NOVA。BOSSA NOVA音乐反映的是巴西社会中上层人群的生活,歌曲主题以爱情为主,声音轻松悠闲,很容易让人联想到有着白色沙滩和棕榈树的度假美景。盖茨介入BOSSA NOVA后录制的第一张唱片是和Charlie Byrd合作的《爵士桑巴》(Jazz Samba),他们演绎的“变调”(Desafinado)很快成为一首热门乐曲。但真正让他在BOSSA NOVA风格方面大获成功的是《盖茨和吉尔伯托》(Getz/Gilberto)这张唱片。这是盖茨和几位巴西音乐家合作录制的唱片,包括可以说是BOSSA NOVA创始人的约比姆(Jobim)和吉尔伯托(Gilberto)。其中最有影响的歌曲当数“伊帕尼玛的女孩”(The Girl From Ipanema),盖茨的演奏与吉尔伯托妻子的歌声交织出醉人的浪漫。这首歌曲广为流传,成为了BOSSA NOVA最有代表性的歌曲之一。在六十年代初期,美国乐坛正遭受来自英国的“入侵”,滚石、披头士等乐队的歌曲长期占据着排行榜。然而在英国甚至欧洲,盖茨带来的BOSSA NOVA让人们在巴西风情的音乐中所得到的音乐享受也是无人能匹敌的。
盖茨凭借着BOSSA NOVA音乐取得了商业上的巨大成功,但他没有依赖于这个成功来维持后半生的生活。他开始演奏更富有挑战性的爵士乐。他与电颤琴演奏家盖里·伯顿(Gary Burton)组成了无钢琴的四重奏,1964年与契克·考瑞亚(Chick Corea)录制了一张经典的唱片《甜蜜的雨》(Sweet Rain)。到了七十年代,盖茨也尝试了Fusion音乐。八十年代,他又回到了完全原声的音乐风格,乐队由最传统的乐器组成。但直至他1991年去世,他都未能再达到一个音乐的高峰。
盖茨总是衣冠楚楚的外表会给人一种追求商业价值的印象,一些铁杆儿爵士迷也经常会非议他的音乐,说他丢弃了令人激动的SOLO,是对爵士的背叛。在一次格莱美颁奖晚会上,当为他的BOSSA NOVA唱片颁奖之后,一位著名长号演奏家的妻子用很刻薄的语气向盖茨喊道:“真羞耻!你太商业了!”但事实上,盖茨从未在音乐性上做过让步。他所作的就是去演奏自己喜欢的音乐,即使BOSSA NOVA被认为是商业的东西他也不在乎。只要有美妙的声音,就能说明一切。
斯坦·盖茨的演奏风格
盖茨的演奏风格有着鲜明的个性,他的次中音萨克斯发出的声音很容易辨别,即使乐曲开始的第一个音符,就能让人听出这是盖茨在演奏。他的声音总给人一种清爽、毫不费力的感觉。他的风格影响了很多演奏者,包括后来的约翰·考特雷恩(John Coltrane)。那么盖茨是怎样发展出有自己特点的音色的呢?盖茨曾经解释道,他从来没有刻意去追求模仿某人的音色。由于他很小就有机会和很多大师演出,他从他所喜欢的众多演奏者的声音中得到启发,这种影响是潜移默化的。他希望在他吹出的声音中少一些哨片的作用,而多些人的自然气息。把萨克斯当作自己体外的一个发声器官,用它来唱歌,像自己唱歌一样。他认为这样的声音音色较暗,更有穿透力。然而,这样听上去轻松的音色却是通过很不轻松的练习才得到的。
盖茨从来没有正统地学习过音乐理论,这是他自己都感觉到遗憾的地方。没有理论的支持就意味着无法创作出好的音乐,也无法去分析那些复杂的音乐。但也许正是这样才解放了盖茨,让他没有把自己束缚在写在纸上的乐谱上。对于像契克·考瑞亚那样的和声进行很复杂的曲子,他承认自己完全是按照感觉来演奏即兴,这样能够更加自由。在美国斯坦福大学讲授爵士课程的时候,盖茨也告诉学生不要靠看谱记住一首音乐,应该靠耳朵的听来记住,而且不能只顾学习书本上的东西,鼓励他们到外边与不同的音乐人演奏交流
by Scott Yanow
One of the all-time great tenor saxophonists, Stan Getz was known as The Sound because he had one of the most beautiful tones ever heard. Getz, whose main early influence was Lester Young, grew to be a major influence himself and to his credit he never stopped evolving.
Getz had the opportunity to play in a variety of major swing big bands while a teenager due to the World War II draft. He was with Jack Teagarden (1943) when he was just 16 and this was followed by stints with Stan Kenton (1944-1945), Jimmy Dorsey (1945), and Benny Goodman (1945-1946); he soloed on a few records with BG. Getz, who had his recording debut as a leader in July 1946 with four titles, became famous during his period with Woody Hermans Second Herd (1947-1949), soloing (along with Zoot Sims, Herbie Steward, and Serge Chaloff) on the original version of Four Brothers and having his sound well-featured on the ballad Early Autumn. After leaving Herman, Getz was (with the exception of some tours with Jazz at the Philharmonic) a leader for the rest of his life.
During the early 50s, Getz broke away from the Lester Young style to form his own musical identity and he was soon among the most popular of all jazzmen. He discovered Horace Silver in 1950 and used him in his quartet for several months. After touring Sweden in 1951, he formed an exciting quintet that co-featured guitarist Jimmy Raney; their interplay on up-tempo tunes and tonal blend on ballads was quite memorable. Getzs playing helped Johnny Smith have a hit in Moonlight in Vermont, during 1953-1954 Bob Brookmeyer made his group a quintet and, despite some drug problems during the decade, Getz was a constant poll winner. After spending 1958-1960 in Europe, the tenorman returned to the U.S. and recorded his personal favorite album, Focus, with arranger Eddie Sauters Orchestra. Then, in February 1962, Getz helped usher in the bossa nova era by recording Jazz Samba with Charlie Byrd; their rendition of Desafinado was a big hit. During the next year, Getz made bossa nova-flavored albums with Gary McFarlands big band, Luiz Bonfá, and Laurindo Almeida, but it was Getz/Gilberto (a collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto) that was his biggest seller, thanks in large part to The Girl From Ipanema (featuring the vocals of Astrud and João Gilberto).
Getz could have spent the next decade sticking to bossa nova but instead he de-emphasized the music and chose to play more challenging jazz. His regular group during this era was a piano-less quartet with vibraphonist Gary Burton, he recorded with Bill Evans (1964), played throughout the 1965 Eddie Sauter soundtrack for Mickey One, and made the classic album Sweet Rain (1967) with Chick Corea. Although not all of Getzs recordings from the 1966-1980 period are essential, he proved that he was not shy to take chances. Dynasty with organist Eddie Louiss (1971), Captain Marvel with Chick Corea (1972), and The Peacocks with Jimmy Rowles (1975) are high points. After utilizing pianist Joanne Brackeen in his 1977 quartet, Getz explored some aspects of fusion with his next unit which featured keyboardist Andy Laverne. Getz even used an Echoplex on a couple of songs but, despite some misfires, most of his dates with this unit are worthwhile. However, purists were relieved when he signed with Concord in 1981 and started using a purely acoustic backup trio on most dates. Getzs sidemen in later years included pianists Lou Levy, Mitchell Forman, Jim McNeely, and Kenny Barron. His final recording, 1991s People Time, (despite some shortness in the tenors breath) is a brilliant duet set with Barron.
Throughout his career Getz recorded as a leader for Savoy, Spotlite, Prestige, Roost, Verve, MGM, Victor, Columbia, SteepleChase, Concord, Sonet, Black Hawk, A&M, and EmArcy among other labels (not to mention sessions with Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Gerry Mulligan) and there are dozens of worthy records by the tenor currently available on CD.