It is unlikely that anyone will ever bridge the gap between jazz and classical music with the success that Focus did. Getz regarded it as the most important recording of his life. Eddie Sauter, unique in being first a jazz writer and then a trained classical composer, wrote a series of seven pieces for a small chamber orchestra. He wrote parts for Getz's tenor. Getz wasn't happy with the classical notation and decided to improvise without written music. He had a photographic musical memory and he memorised the music instantly when the chamber group played it through for him. He filled the gaps that had been left for him with the most sublime improvisations that you could imagine. Sauter's writing had been brilliant and the consummation of tenor and chamber group is one of the great moments in jazz. During the period of the recordings Getz's mother died. The chamber unit recorded "Her" in his absence and he came in a day later and improvised to the tape. He obviously had his mother in mind and the result is incredibly moving. The long coda to the piece is one of the most beautiful and heart-stopping passages in the whole of jazz. --Steve Voce