In Between Styles In Early Getz

Back in January, I took a look at a couple of early Stan Getz recordings to try to get a sense of how he fit into the swing-bebop continuum, i.e., the stylistic divide which most younger, East Coast-based players of the '40s found themselves negotiating. I ended up concluding this:

If I were to identify any weaknesses or limitations of Getz's bebop playing, it'd probably be that he tends to repeat himself—he's less like Sonny Rollins, who takes small melodic ideas and creates variations upon them rhythmically and motifically, and more like Bird, who to me does repeat himself often but in surprising ways.  

What I mean is that he works with a broad set of vocabulary that he feels comfortable with, and builds solos with these pieces of melodic material, while also changing them rhythmically and phrasing them differently to fit the context of the solo, but not enough that these fragments aren't recognizable.

I noticed in a couple early recordings how plainly Getz wore his influences on his sleeve (Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker), but one component of his development which I didn't consider was his integration of swing language and bebop language. The distinction is a bit of a difficult or even artificial one to make, considering that all bebop players were inevitably influenced by the swing they heard, but listening to Getz's solo over a Terry Gibbs tune called "Cuddles (Speedway)" off of Early Stan (1949) made this distinction come to mind:

What struck me immediately was the separation between swing language and bebop language that's heard in the first and second choruses, respectively. It might have partially been because of the burning tempo, which might have forced Getz to rely more on muscle memory than his ear and mind, but after transcribing the solo, this division became even more apparent:

If the first chorus is essentially revealing Getz's swing influence (Lester), then the second chorus is evidence of Getz's countervailing interest in developing fluency in bebop. The last 8 bars of his solo begins with textbook bebop, but ends with a distinctly Lester-ish phrase. What this solo indicates to me is that great players also have to deal with growing pains and the challenges of integrating contrasting influences in a convincing, personal way. Listen to Getz a couple years down the road (For Musicians Only, recorded in 1956, is a great example) and it's clear that he's found a way to meld swing and bebop influences into a distinct sound. That's about all I have to add about my thoughts on Getz's early playing, but I'm curious if there are other early recordings of musicians working out their influences in such a transparent way; if so, send them my way!