Jane Ellen Getz was born on September 12, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois to Marvin and Natalie Getz.

 

Jane Getz was a classical piano child prodigy at age six. After her mother took her to see Billie Holiday at the Hollywood Bowl, Getz fell in love with jazz music.

 

My mother took me to see Billie Holiday at the Hollywood Bowl when I was 9 or 10, and I just fell in love with the music. Then I heard some Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell recordings and just flipped out. It was so artistic. I wanted to be a part of that mysterious world, and, like children will do, I thought, "I can do that." 

-- Jane Getz (1996)[1]

 

At 12, Getz was already playing with notable jazz musicians and at 16 she left school and travelled to New York to pursue a career in music.

 

Jane Getz was just 16 years old when she backed Charlie Mingus live and on record.[2]

 

During eight years in New York, Getz worked with many jazz artists including Charles Mingus, Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, and Freddie Hubbard.

 

I worked with the greats. People were very protective of me and I never had a problem.

 

In the early 1970s, Getz moved back to Los Angeles and played on recording sessions for Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Don Henley and others.

 

 

Jane Getz (born 12 September 1942) is an American jazz pianist and session musician, who learned classical piano as a child, and began playing jazz at the age of nine. She lived in California early in life, but moved to New York City when she was sixteen. She found work with Pony Poindexter and later performed with Charles Mingus, Herbie Mann, Stan Getz, Roland Kirk, Jay Clayton, Charles Lloyd, and Pharoah Sanders. In the early 1970s, Getz returned to Los Angeles and became a studio musician. She recorded country music for RCA under the name "Mother Hen" and appeared on albums by The Bee Gees, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Rick Roberts, and John Lennon. She wrote the title track for the 1973 Jimmie Spheeris 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.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jane Getz", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

 

 


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