Dynasty

This was an unusual quartet led by tenor saxophonist Stan Getz(1927-91) recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Club, London on March 15-17, 1971 with organist Eddy Louiss, guitarist Rene Thomas and drummer Bernard Lubat.Getz is in powerful, lyrical form with inventive support on nine memorable tracks including originals from Louiss, Thomas, Albert Mangelsdorf & Bronislau Kaper.This 2-CD set is currently hard to find but it contains some of Getz's finest improvising and this enjoyable jazz is well worth the search.Spike Milligan in part of the CD notes writes: 'if perchance you don't enjoy it, find a convenient cliff of say six hundred feet in height. Jump off it!'Btw ~ This review applies to the 2009 reissue. The 1999 edition(VERVE 839 117-2) has an extra track, 'I Remember Clifford'.

Arrived very quickly. A rare but great album. Played well throughout. Delighted.

This is a live recording of some dates that Stan Getz did at Ronnie Scott's club in March 1971. The group includes Eddie Louiss, organ, Rene Thomas, guitar and Bernard Lubat, drums. In spite of Mr. Getz's undoubted status he is working as part of a team in this set and does not overshadow his colleagues, so expect to hear exciting contributions from all involved.It is a fantastic album of beautiful music. The playing of all musicians is first rate, they have wonderful stories to tell and because of the unrestrictive live format they have the room to tell them. There is a really intimate atmosphere too, listening to this I can imagine Ronnie Scott's customers awed into silence by the music, being taken personally and individually on an incredible emotional journey. There is subtlety, delicacy and thunderous power here, a dark seriousness, sometimes wistful but never flippant or carefree. Don't read that as mawkish, sloppy sentimentality, either. This is the real thing, gritty and uncompromising. I'll bet there were lumps in throats at times and at other times ice was rattling in glasses. I would give my eye teeth to have been there.If you are looking for bossa nova, forget it; you won't find it. This isn't stylised and safe, this is a torrent of raw creativity that proves what a great player Stan Getz was. I guess that the choice of musicians was deliberate, to get him away from the bossa thing, and it works. This is quite unique, I think, among Getz's recorded work; he steers well clear of any jolly swing feel or happy, light tunes.I had never listened to jazz before this album, not really listened anyway, and it is solely responsible for making me start listening. I bought this album on vinyl years ago, an import from Japan, and have been unable to find it here on CD so I am pleased that it has been released in MP3 format. Means I can listen to it in the car and go round corners at a reasonable speed without worrying about the gramophone needle scratching the disc...I recommend this album highly, and if you can find the Paris set (from the same tour) anywhere listen to that too, although this is the best in my opinion.

Once again, Stan Getz have greatly impressed listeners and the critics alike withanother world class live album that became another important blockbuster hit for"The Sound". Recorded live at London's Ronnie Scott's and released to criticalacclaim in 1971, Dynasty showcases a delightful high octane mixture of strikingnotes, fresh original compositions, swinging melodies, world class musicianshipand a crescendo beat. With Belgian guitarist Rene Thomas, French jazz organistEddie Louise and French jazz/ classical drummer Bernard Lugat in his quartet,Getz and the three band members decide not to have standards on the live album(except for one that was added on it) and roughly have only few long toweringcompositions, which were exclusively well featured by this diverse quartet line-up.Sporadically recorded during three days from their three week engagement, themesmerizing track set features an array of classic original hits like the light andbreezy opening track Dum Dum Dum, where it is it proceded by Ballad For Leo,Theme For Emmanuelle, Our Kind Of Sabi, the sweet ballad Mona (composed bymaster trombonist Albert Mengelsdorff as the organ weaves through with a slowrhythm) and Ballade For My Dad. Clocking in at just 98 minutes and documentedwell by producer George Martin, Ronnie Scott--the saxophonist and proud ownerof Ronnie Scott's, also sits in on some of the live club dates alongside Getz,and Louise showcases the swelling organ solos in foundation form. Other classictracks round out the live recording with full house fashion, which the rest includethe lone standard Invitation, the easy-going Song For Martine, the funky bluesshuffle `road song' title track, and it's followed their grand finale take on BennyGolson's I Remember Clifford (one of the two standards in the set). Dynasty is ahighly lauded masterpiece that is done live from top to bottom, which rank as oneof Getz' greatest and most honoured live albums. I may have to highly recommendthis great live masterpiece to any jazz fan or any admirer of Stan Getz which willremain as timeless and captivating as ever for the ages. P.S: when you downloadit from your computer, make sure you 'rip' the finale track I Remember Clifford,which give it the finishing touch.

This is one of my desert island dozen, it sits alongside Bach, Butterfield, Prokofiev and Gilmour's Floyd. I play it at least once a week and have never grown tired of it. I litterally wore out my original vinyl copy. The only way to understand why I like it so much is to check it out for yourself; you won't be disappointed. Enjoy.

Live album recorded in London with a group of European musicians. Terrific music. Especially good is organist Eddie Louiss (misspelled "Louise" on the album) who wrote some of the compositions.

The best Getz you've never heard. Fantastic group, inventive sound.

As on FOCUS, and APASIONADO there is a lot of great soloing but without much point as the melodys are rather thin and Stan soars over them without referring to them. The organist is light touched and better than any electric pianist would be, but the brief guitar solos, on some tracks after the organ solos seem expendable.