Stan Getz
Tenor Sax Solo on
These Foolish Things

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Stan Getz's tenor saxophone solo on "These Foolish Things" is the only solo on this 1952 ballad from Stan Getz Plays, closing out one of the finest ballad albums in jazz. He takes a quarter chorus of the 32-bar AABA form at a slow 63 BPM in E-flat. Stan jumps back to the bridge after playing the melody and then solos only over the B section. This approach, consistent with his ballad method throughout the album, focuses the improvisation on the bridge's harmonic interest while allowing Jack Strachey's enduring melody to remain the centerpiece. Getz's warm, breathy tone and unerring melodic taste make these brief passages among the most moving moments on the record.

Stan Getz was 24 to 25 years old at the time.