A „relationship” of saxophonist Stan Getz (real name Stanley Gayetzky, 1927-1991) with guitarist Joao Gilberto (Joao Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, born 1931) was quite fruitful but at the same time quite checkered. Getz's experience with Latin music - samba and bossa-nova started in 1962, when he made a hit record Jazz Samba. The title piece was his variation on One Note Samba by Antonio Carlos Jobim. For the track coming from this record, called Deafinado Getz received Grammy Award in 1963. As a follow-up saxophonist made another record called Jazz Samba Encore!. Still same year Getz recorded the album Getz/Gilberto together with Tom Jobim, Joao Gilberto and his wife Astrud Gilberto. He received another Grammy for The Girl From Ipanema and the album won two Grammys (Best Album and Best Single). A live album, Getz/Gilberto Vol.2 followed, as did Getz Au Go Go a live recording at the Cafe Au Go Go. Successful cooperation between Getz and Gilberto was broken by affair of the first one with the second one's wife - Astrud Gilberto. In fact Joao divorced Astrud shortly after that to marry love of his live in 1965. Stan Getz died of cancer in 1991. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea, off the coast of Malibu, California.

I know this recording very well, listened probably to every format available. The most times I listened to Mobile Fidelity version, but just few times less to vinyl Speakers Corner reissue. The latter has some advantages over MoFi, but the voices are too nasal. Reissue prepared by Mr Ma is different. It is much better than any version I heard so far. The sound is extremely clear, there are no nasal voices, and even Astrud's voice extra added to the recording finally doesn't sound like it comes from another record. Yes, the voices is recorded with totally different reverb and you can hear that, but it doesn't hurt so much as on MoFi version, where it sounds like it is coming from the small shoe-box. Resolution of the sound, natural softness, and brilliant differentiation of dynamics and timbre are very impressive. Gilberto's guitar is very strong but not too hard unlike all previous versions. The noise of master-tape is audible, but placed “behind” the music, exactly like on the vinyl records. Sound stage is really wide and deep and I've been discovering new small detail previously hidden or covered by something else. Here artistic concept and so on is in the first place, ahead of some flaws of the recording. Because of course there are some flaws – Gilberto's voice was taken very closely, which made him sound so nasal, dark. Winston Ma's version is clearer, but not until the moment, when SACD reissue, through overrated vividness, started to be difficult to perceive. Getz's saxophone is bit brighter than before but at the same time there is more of it and it is deeper so you don't have an impression of exaggerated brightness. There is no escape – I will listen to no other version any more, also because aesthetics of FIM's edition is unrivaled.