Though in 1963 some purists considered
Reflections to be certain evidence that
Stan Getz had sold out and abandoned "real jazz" completely, the album is actually, while perhaps not a masterpiece, an artful and intriguing sidebar to the tenor saxophonist's now celebrated bossa nova period.
Getz was always a sublimely smooth and lyrical player who had already recorded in an orchestral setting on the groundbreaking
Focus, and had a number one pop hit with
Jazz Samba. It was only natural, then, that he would want to combine the two concepts. Although
Reflections does at times bear the slight stench of easy listening (sweeping strings, a
Lawrence Welk-like vocal chorus), it's definitely not elevator music.
Getz is in as fine form as ever, and the restrictive pop-based song structures challenge him to use his creative faculties in interesting ways. It's a true master musician who can make
Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" swing without descending into schmaltzy
Trini Lopez territory or losing any of the tune's original melancholic urgency. There are a few tracks, of course, where
Getz jumps back into a more straight-ahead and cool jazz bag. The
Lalo Schifrin tune "Nitetime Street" features an appropriately bluesy and brooding guitar solo from
Kenny Burrell, and
Getz's take on "Love" is a wild Latin romp that matches the vitality of anything on his
Gilberto/
Jobim collaborations. A highly underrated and oft-ignored album,
Reflections should be re-evaluated and viewed not as an acceptance of crass commercialism, but as a daring and brilliant artist's attempt to find pure music by blurring the boundaries between jazz and pop.