In May 1949, a date which witnessed the oldest tracks selected here, Stan Getz, at the age of twenty-two, had just completed his apprenticeship in the tough school of 'big bands'. The previous year, while with Woody Herman, he had cut a sublime solo in Early Autumn which drew everyone's attention to his unique talent. It was time for the career of this great soloist to truly take off and follow its path right to the end, in June 1991. In his first quartets, pianists Al Haig and Horace Silver took turns to stand out. On the piano, Haig was one of the pioneers of the 'bebop' style - he can be found next to Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker in the first historical recordings of this new jazz. From 1948 to 1950, he was Charlie Parker's appointed pianist. As regards Silver, his veritable debut and first discs were made with Getz with, in particular, his compositions (track 3). In 1954, we can remember him as the musical director of the popular "Jazz Messengers".

However, it was the quintet with guitar which gave the best yield of this period. Having returned from Scandinavia where he had cut Dear Old Stockholm (track 12), a tune taken from a popular Swedish air and which he was to always keep in this repertoire, Stan Getz hired the mighty Jimmy Raney, a sensitive and virtuosic guitarist with a massive following. On the piano was Al Haig followed by Duke Jordan, another ex-Parkerian, with worthy drummers Roy Haynes, Tiny Kahn and Frank Isola, in the space of a year and a half, this quintet produced an impressive series of phonographic hits, many of which are included in this album. Particularly striking is the admirable blend of saxophone-guitar with Raney and Johnny Smith (track 15 in the splendid Moonlight In Vermont). Then there is the commendable manner in which Getz brings out the contrasts in each melody, emphasizing their character though an astute distribution of the roles of each instrument. We can finally delight in the charm of an incomparably velvet sonority, melodic imagination and the saxophonist's insolent technical facility. Right from his introduction in Lover Come Back To Me, we are snared by Getz and remain bound by his unique talent and high-quality repertory.