LT-993

Stanley Turrentine - New Time Shuffle

Released - 1979

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 17, 1967
Donald Byrd, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Jerry Dodgion, alto sax, flute; Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax; Joe Farrell, tenor sax, flute; Pepper Adams, baritone sax, clarinet; Kenny Barron, piano; Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar; Ron Carter, bass; Mickey Roker, drums; Duke Pearson, arranger.

1841 tk.14 Manha De Carnaval
1842 tk.15 What Now My Love
1844 tk.32 Here's That Rainy Day
1845 tk.41 Blues For Del

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, June 23, 1967
Joe Shepley, Marvin Stamm, trumpet, flugelhorn; Garnett Brown, Julian Priester, trombone; Al Gibbons, alto sax, flute, bass clarinet; Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax; Joe Farrell, tenor sax, flute; Mario Rivera, baritone sax; McCoy Tyner, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Ray Lucas, drums; Duke Pearson, arranger.

1912 tk.14 Return Of The Prodigal Son
1914 tk.27 Ain't No Mountain High Enough
1915 tk.32 New Time Shuffle

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Return Of The Prodigal Son	H. Ousley	June 23 1967
Ain't No Mountain High Enough	N. Ashford-V. Simpson	June 23 1967
New Time Shuffle	J. Sample	June 23 1967
Side Two
Blues For Del	S. Turrentine	February 17 1967
Manha De Carnaval	A. Maria-L. Bonfa	February 17 1967
Here's That Rainy Day	Burke-Van Heusen	February 17 1967
What Now My Love	Becaud-Delanoe-Sigman	February 17 1967

Liner Notes

STANLEY TURRENTINE

Stanley Turrentine's career as a recording bandleader dates back almost two decades. His first album. a simple quartet session taped in 1960. bore the appropriate title Look Out!, indicating clearly that this would be the start of a long and significant series of contributions.

The first of these two decades was spent at Blue Note, back in the days when that label was synonymous with a brand of pure, unhyphenated jazz that proved in the long run to be commercial beyond the dreams of Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff, the two dedicated aficionados who ran the company. Turrentine later switched to CTI and subsequently to Fantasy his popularity growing as his material became increasingly oriented toward the pop market; yet a certain essence detectable in his first combo records, has remained a part of his personality to this day.

When Turrentine first established himself as a noteworthy young sideman, playing with Ray Charles and Earl Bostic in the early 1950s, then touring with Max Roach in 1959-60, the tenor saxophone was an instrument whose performers stayed with it exclusively. During the 1960s, largely as the result of John Coltrane's decision to take up the soprano, more and more tenor players took to doubling and tripling; in many cases. as a consequence, they become jacks of too many trades and some individuality of sound was lost along the way. To Stanley Turrentine's credit it must be pointed out that he has remained almost exclusively with his first love, preferring to concentrate on doing one job with complete proficiency and individuality.

His sound has been called big, booming and full-throated. which indeed it can be when the material and context calls for this; however, he is capable, and too little has been said about this in analyzing his work, of admirable restraint and delicacy. His solo in the title number of the present album offers ample evidence, as does the easy loping swing of What Now My Love.

During the Blue Note years he was associated, at least for his in person performances, with a robust brand of small group soul jazz, usually in tandem with his then wife, the organist Shirley Scott. and a drummer and bassist. Starting in he expanded, for his recording dates to a fuller sound, with arrangements by Oliver Nelson for the memorable Joy Ride album and subsequently a series of felicitous teamings with Duke Pearson. The first Pearson-Turrentine product was Rough 'n' Tumble, for which the arrangements were admirably tailored to Stanley's requirements and were played by a band slightly smaller than those heard here. This was to lead to other successful collaborations that were among the many accomplishments of Pearson between 1963 and 1970, when he was a production assistant for Alfred Lion, writing and conducting many charts for Donald Byrd (among them the memorable Cristo Redentor) and for his own orchestras.

The material heard on the present set, though never previously released, stems from the same two dates in February and June of 1967 that produced six numbers in a double-pocket album entitled "Stanley Turrentine," issued in 1974 on Blue Note LA 394-H2. Thanks to the diligent research of Michael Cuscuna, the other material recorded on those two occasions is now brought to light, reminding us at a vital and creative phase in the Turrentine career. (It should be borne in mind that the personnel information on the earlier album was confused, listing two pianists on one session, two bassists and two drummers an the other. The correct line-up for each date is as listed here.)

Pearson provides Turrentine with a typically sympathetic framework in the Harold Ousley composition Return of the Prodigal Son, a basic C Minor theme in a somewhat funky groove. One characteristic at the leader's tenor is particularly noticeable here: his tendency to bite off notes in a manner that sometimes recalls the ironic personality of Eddie (Lockjaw} Davis: but there is also a tender, pleading quality that is evocative of Ben Webster. I am reluctant to make these comparisons, since they are meant only as points of reference and don't imply that Turrentine did not long ago develop a style of his own.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough was a new song at the time of this recording. Written by the team of Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, it was to become a major hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (and, a couple of years later, for Diana Ross.) The melody and changes lend themselves well enough to Turrentine's requirements; note also the strong support offered by Bob Cranshaw, whose bass presumably was a Fender.

Joe Sample's New Time Shuffle. first recorded by the group known in those days as the Jazz Crusaders, is a moderato theme in C based on the sempiternal 12-bar blues, Stanley makes effective use of triplets against the dotted-eighths-and sixteenths lilt of the rhythm section. As was becoming fashionable during those days of funk and roots trips, the F 7 chord is used on bar 10 of each chorus where for many years a G 7 might have been expected.

The blues jumps back in the first cut on Side Two. In Blues for Del, a cheerful riff head in G, Stanley's impact is felt gradually as he opens accompanied by the rhythm section alone before the horns join in to deliver some characteristic Pearson voicings. The trumpet solo offers revealing example of Donald Byrd in his unadulterated jazz period. Kenny Barron, now a professor at Rutgers university (he is also a Dizzy Gillespie alumnus: limns single-note lines in his brief but interesting solo.

Some of Duke Pearson's best writing in the 1960s was devoted to Brazilian themes. (Several of Flora Purim's first American records were made with Pearson's band on Blue Note.) Manha de Carnaval is a case in point, with the reedmen doubling on flutes. Stanley's ventures into double time are typical of his rhythmic creativity.

A flute introduction, probably by Joe Farrell, leads into the languidly lyrical Turrentine version of the ageless Jimmy van Heusen standard Here's That Rainy Day. This track exemplifies one of those aspects of the Turrentine style that would appear to have been neglected lately.

Gilbert Becaud's What Now My Love, introduced in France by the composer and later a hit for Sonny and Cher, finds Kenny Barron supplying delicate fills alongside Stanley's exposition of the theme. The second chorus displays a delicate relaxation rarely heard in these times of pounding rhythm sections.

A few years ago, explaining his new-found success as a crossover artist whose records were achieving unprecedented success, Stanley Turrentine commented: "It's a natural thing for me. I hear Stevie Wonder tunes, or Marvin Gaye tunes, on the radio all the time. It I like the tune, I'll do it, no matter who wrote it. I just want lots of people to hear my music."

Now that more listeners than ever before are being exposed to his sound, the appearance of New Time Shuffle, with its splendid mixture of pop and jazz, American and French and Brazilian songs, should fill a gap in the knowledge of his followers Who may never have heard him in the kind of setting with which he is provided here. It is no derogation of his current direction to insist that performances such as these are essential to an appreciation of all that Turrentine stands for on the modern jazz scene.

—Leonard Feather. (Author Of The Encyclopedia of Jazz, Horizon Press)