When I was growing up in the 1990s saxophones were distinctly uncool. Hearing that distinctive wail brought to mind George Michael’s Careless Whisper, Kenny G or worst of all that greased up man from the Lost Boys, Tim Capello. Saxophones to me were well, a bit cheesy.

That’s until I heard Stan Getz. It was a louche Uncle who introduced me to the joys of jazz. He was my aunt’s boyfriend and later husband. He’d had a varied career as a lawyer, racehorse owner and for a time professional gambler in Las Vegas. He had an extensive jazz collection and took great joy in educating me. He used to give me albums to take home to expand my knowledge. From him I developed a love of Bill Evans, Mose Allison and Hank Mobley. My favourite album though was Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio.

Getz was born in Philadelphia in 1927 to Jewish parents. He was brought up in the Bronx  and took up the saxophone aged 13. He quickly proved himself a master and by the age of 16 was playing in Jack Teagarden’s band. His career took off as did his drinking and drug-taking. He spent much of the 1950s in Denmark where there was a thriving jazz scene to avoid going to prison in America for drug offences. By all accounts he was the most difficult man in jazz and when the competition is such legendary egos as Chet Baker and Miles Davis, that’s saying something. Pete King a saxophonist and co-founder of Ronnie Scott’s once said: ‘You can generally tell the character of saxophonists from their tone. The rougher they sound, the sweeter they are in real life. The guys who play with a gritty, attacking tone, as hot as you like, are always the nice ones. It’s the ones who sounds so lush who turn out to be the ruffians. Remember Don Byas? Lovely sweet tone? Seductive sound? When he came to the club, he kept pulling knives on people. And who do you think is the most sweet-sounding tenor saxophonist of all?’ It’s Getz, of course. He was known as ‘the Sound’. The way he played the saxophone was like the sultriest human voice. It’s breathy and sexy. Listening to him you can understand why he got away with being so unpleasant.

In contrast with Getz, Peterson is considered to be one of jazz’s nice guys. Born in Montreal in 1926 to West Indian parents. It was a musical family. His father was a jazz trumpeter and Peterson immersed himself in both jazz and classical music. Like Getz, Peterson was a prodigy who in his youth played with some of greats of jazz, Herbie Hancock, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie. In the 1950s he formed the Oscar Peterson Trio with Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. In Los Angeles in 1957 they recorded an album with Getz.

For once it seems that Getz was on his best behaviour. This might be because Peterson like Getz was a perfectionist. Both were virtuoso musicians. Getz was impressed with the sheer professionalism and skill of Peterson, Ellis and Brown. One of the amazing things about the record is how it swings and makes you want to dance but there’s no drum. The rhythm comes from Peterson on piano and Brown on bass. Steve Race of Melody Maker wrote of Peterson ‘there is no more swinging jazzman on earth.’

It’s made up of famous standards such as Pennies from heaven and I was Doing All Right with a couple of Getz compositions. The opening track I Want to Be Happy is sheer joy with the driving rhythm of Peterson’s band combining with the pure sensual joy of Getz’s saxophone. It’s the sound of four musicians at the top of their game with Getz’s ego held firmly in check by Peterson’s’ virtuosity. The improvisation is tight and focused. There’s no noodling. One of the striking thing is the sheer warmth of the recording. This is jazz for the soul.

It’s an album that may sound familiar to you even on first hearing. That’s partly down to the standards but also because many will recognise Getz’s sound from his later work with Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto. Their album from 1964 Getz/ Gilberto epitomised the Bossa Nova (new wave) sound. It contained the song the Girl from Ipanema, still one of the best selling singles ever, which was sung by Gilberto’s wife Astrud Gilberto.  She later divorced  Gilberto and for her sins took up with Getz.

In later life Peterson became quite the establishment figure. He hobnobbed with politicians, was awarded honorary degrees and honours such as the Order of Canada and Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. After he died in 2007, they erected a statue of him in Ottawa that was unveiled by Elizabeth II.  There’s an Oscar Peterson school in Ontario. Getz after a dissolute life, died of liver cancer in 1991. Nobody named any schools after him. Though there a Stan Getz Media Center and Library at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

When Getz’s name was mentioned, my uncle would angrily quote Ronnie Scott: ‘It so happened that one of his (Getz’s) visits to the club coincided with my contracting a very bad back. I told everyone that I got a slipped disc by bending over backwards to please Stan Getz.’ Getz’s abrasive personality was enough to put my uncle off the music. I can’t share this attitude, as soon as I hear a note from ‘the Sounds’, I forget all the unpleasant stories and I’m transported to jazz heaven.