Jane Getz (born 12 September 1942) is an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
pianist and
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
.
She learned classical piano as a child and began playing jazz at the age of nine. She lived in California early in life but when she was sixteen moved to New York City. She found work with
Pony Poindexter
Norwood "Pony" Poindexter (February 8, 1926, New Orleans, Louisiana – April 14, 1988, Oakland, California) was an American jazz saxophonist.
Poindexter began on clarinet and switched to playing alto and tenor sax. In 1940 he studied unde ...
and later performed with
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...
,
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inc ...
,
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre o ...
,
Roland Kirk
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
,
Jay Clayton,
Charles Lloyd, and
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of " sheets of sound", S ...
.
In the early 1970s, Getz returned to Los Angeles and became a
studio musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
. She recorded country music for
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westin ...
under the name "Mother Hen" and appeared on albums by
The Bee Gees
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
,
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
,
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...
,
Rick Roberts, and
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
. She wrote the title track for the 1973
Jimmie Spheeris
Jimmie Spheeris (November 5, 1949 – July 4, 1984) was an American singer-songwriter who released four albums in the 1970s on the Columbia Records and Epic Records labels. Spheeris died in 1984, at the age of 34, after a motorcycle accident.
...
album ''The Original Tap Dancing Kid''.
Getz went into semi-retirement but began playing jazz again in the 1990s. She was a member of
Dale Fielder's quartet in Los Angeles in 1995. Her first jazz album as a leader, ''No Relation'', was released in 1996.
Discography
As leader
* ''Mother Hen'' (1971)
* ''No Ordinary Child'' (1972)
* ''Survival Of The Hippest/Stopping Traffic'' 45rpm (1986)
* ''No Relation'' (1996)
* ''A Dot On The Map'' (2014)
* ''Go Back to Your Wife'' (2018)
As sidewoman
With
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...
* 1974 ''
Pussy Cats
''Pussy Cats'' is the tenth album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in 1974. It was produced by John Lennon during his " Lost Weekend" period. The album title was inspired by the bad press Nilsson and Lennon were getting ...
''
* 1975 ''
Duit on Mon Dei''
* 1976 ''
...That's the Way It Is''
With
Jimmie Spheeris
Jimmie Spheeris (November 5, 1949 – July 4, 1984) was an American singer-songwriter who released four albums in the 1970s on the Columbia Records and Epic Records labels. Spheeris died in 1984, at the age of 34, after a motorcycle accident.
...
* 1973 ''The Original Tap Dancing Kid''
* 1975 ''The Dragon Is Dancing''
With
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
* 1976 ''
Ringo's Rotogravure''
* 1981 ''
Stop and Smell the Roses Stop and Smell the Roses may refer to:
* Stop and smell the roses, a 20th-century proverb (see Paremiography)
* ''Stop and Smell the Roses'' (Mac Davis album), a 1974 Mac Davis album
** "Stop and Smell the Roses" (song), a 1974 song written and f ...
''
With others
* 1964 ''
Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop'',
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians an ...
(Fantasy)
* 1965 ''Pharoah's First'',
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of " sheets of sound", S ...
* 1967 ''
Musart'',
George Braith
George Braith (born George Timothy Braithwaite on June 26, 1939) is a soul-jazz saxophonist from New York.
Career
Braith is known for playing multiple horns at once, a technique pioneered by Roland Kirk. Braith is credited with the invention of ...
* 1970 ''Outlaw'',
Eugene McDaniels (Gene McDaniels)
* 1972 ''
Windmills
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some par ...
'',
Rick Roberts
* 1973 ''
Life in a Tin Can'',
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees
were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era i ...
* 1976 ''Motion'',
Geoff Muldaur
Geoff Muldaur (born August 12, 1943) is an American active singer, guitarist and composer, who was a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days.
Career
Having established a reputation with the Kw ...
* 1998 ''Bop Head'',
Dave Pike
David Samuel Pike (March 23, 1938 – October 3, 2015) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appeared on many albums by Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke, Bill Evans, and Herbie Mann. He also recorded extensively as l ...
* 2008 ''Introducing J'Ai Michel'',
Sweet Baby J'ai
J'ai Janett Michel, known professionally as Sweet Baby J'ai, is an American contemporary jazz singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, and playwright.
Background
She grew up in Kansas City. She wrote songs at age of five and three years later ...
References
1942 births
American jazz pianists
American session musicians
Living people
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American women pianists
21st-century American pianists
21st-century American women pianists
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