Focus (Stan Getz album) Focus (Stan Getz album) Focus is a jazz album recorded in 1961, featuring Stan Getz on tenor saxophone with a string orchestra. The album is a suite which was originally commissioned by Getz from composer and arranger Eddie Sauter. Widely regarded as a high point for both men's careers, "Focus" was described by Getz as his favorite of all his recordings. The pair would next collaborate on their soundtrack to the 1965 film "Mickey One". As noted in the booklet for the 1997 CD reissue, Sauter's orchestration did not include melodies for Getz. Rather, Sauter left spaces in the arrangements
Focus (Stan Getz album) in which Getz would improvise. Documentation for the recording dates is incomplete, but the CD booklet reports that those involved in the original sessions recall that Getz recorded live with the strings on about half the songs, while he overdubbed sax solos on the others. The theme of the opening track, "I'm Late, I'm Late", is nearly identical to the opening minutes of the second movement of Béla Bartók's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta". Bartók had been an early supporter of Sauter, who intended the track as an homage. "I'm Late, I'm Late" also features drummer Roy Haynes, the