Stanley Turrentine
Stanley Turrentine is the last of the bosses, By this we don't mean that he is involved in big city politics or that he has heavy mob connections, We are talking about a tradition that extends as far back as the 1930's: the tenor sax man who, regardless of the quality of his accompaniment, could lift an audience and stand it on its ear with the sheer force of his playing.
Kansas City was likely the location where this attitude developed. The legendary cutting contests involving Lester Young, Hershel Evans, Ben Webster, Dick Wilson, Coleman Hawkins and the like would have lent status to the man who could survive the competition. The ubiquitous jam sessions that existed on 52nd Street or in after hours clubs on the road provided more tests. The staged tenor battles of Jazz At The Philharmonic were an example of the ritual reduced to its essentials.
At the same time that the jazz cutting contests were fashionable another element was taking shape: the post-war explosion of rhythm and blues. The trick bag developed by Illinois Jacquet during his tenure with Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway really took hold during his California period during 1944 and 45. Soon there were tenor players all over the place who could shatter glass with their squeels, curl hair with their blasts and honk an audience into instant hysteria. Of course, these guys were showboaters — more concerned with the reaction to their playing rather than the components but the intelligent player realized quickly that if he was going to hold his position that he had to be able to work both sides of the street. If you could add some R&B devices to his repertoire and integrate them into a style that emphasized creative playing he could handle the action.
Such are the lessons of survival for our gunslinging tenor man. One of the unspoken rules among the bosses is that when sitting in with an equal there is never a winner. Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt perhaps the most famous of two-tenor teams knew this only too well. Each man had his own distinctive style and it was inevitable that Jug would cop on certain tunes while Sonny would be best on others. The ultimate winner was the patron sitting at the bar listening. The reason for this was elementary. News travels fast. If our boss tenor is moving, say, from Chicago to St. Louis it is not going to be good for business to have advance notice of how he got blown off the stand the preceeding night!
That doesn't mean there are no tenor battles, in the true sense, anymore. There are always the contenders. Most often they are local musicians with little national reputation. And despite the fact that leaders today work more from set routines and arrangements and are less inclined to jam during club dates, not all requests to sit in are refused. But once a challenge is accepted the champ must be careful! A Mickey Fields in Baltimore or a Bill Easley in Memphis is capable of cooking an unsuspecting tenor man into bad health!
We heard Stanley Turrentine sit in with Gene Ammons at The Cadillac Club in Newark a few years ago. There was no winner that night. The mutual respect was obvious. Hanging out after the last set we got to talking with Stanley about his early associations with Lowell Fulson and Earl Bostic. When asked if he ever got to play on any of Bostic's recordings, he replied, "Only the last note."
And it was very likely that way on the stand as well. Then as now, it was customary for the band members to warm up the audience with a couple of tunes before the star came on. After that it was show time and the solo opportunities for a sideman were few and far between. The passion and urgency that is present in everything Stanley Turrentine plays may well hark back to the days when he was warming up the bandstand for Earl Bostic!
If we have established Stanley's "macho tenor" credentials by this time, we should also mention his association with Max Roach during 1959 and 1960. Roach has always maintained a book of very sophisticated, challenging material. And with Max you learn very quickly how to create at incredible tempos! Undoubtedly it was his work with the Roach group that brought him to the attention of Alfred Lion and Frank Wolff at Blue Note (probably via Ike Quebec who acted as aide de camp and chief talent scout).
Stanley's first Blue Note exposure came in late 1960 via two LPs which were issued at roughly the same time. One was his own album, Look Out! (Blue Note 84039) and the other was Horace Parlan's Speakin' My Piece (Blue Note 84043), At the time of their release, there was an LA DJ named Jack Cooke who had a midnight show (Nightbeat) on KNOB-FM (a powerful all jazz station) and for several months, it was a rare night when one didn't hear Minor Chant from Stanley's LP or Wadin' from Parlan's or both! After almost ten years as a professional musician, another boss tenor had arrived!
The first album in this set was recorded roughly seven months after his first. Although it has not been previously available, it had a title (Comin' Your Way), a catalogue number (4065-mono) and a cover that was advertised on the back of one of his later Blue Note albums!
The cast here consists of Blue Note veterans. Tommy Turrentine is six years older than his brother and although he has never reached Stanley's popularity is a big toned, thoroughly inventive trumpet player.
The rhythm section of Horace Parlan, George Tucker and Al Harewood was a working unit. They gigged with Lou Donaldson and Booker Ervin around this time and were the house rhythm section at Minton's in Harlem for some time. Parlan, like the Turrentines, is from Pittsburgh and is a player whom too many have taken for granted. Equally at home playing blues, ballads or bebop, he has been a European resident for some time. He made several splendid LPs for Blue Note in the 60s. George Tucker was a great bass player who died in 1965 at the age of thirty-seven. He had a big sound, beautiful walking lines and an understated but effective solo style (hear him on Thomasville). Al Harewood is a discreet timekeeper with a solid beat who made any number of Blue Note LPs at the time. He is still active around New York.
My Girl Is Just Enough Woman For Me, a nice walking thirty-two bar tune, is our opener Stanley, Tommy and Horace are the soloists but listen to the beautiful bass of George Tucker. One couldn't ask for more than what Tucker delivers here.
Tommy opens Then I'll Be Tired Of You with the verse setting the stage for some of Stanley's very best ballad playing. Tommy has another exemplary solo before Stanley & Tommy take it out together.
Fine L'il Lass is a minor blues with solos from the leader, Tommy (nice flowing lines) and Parlan. This track has a groovy feel throughout.
Bebop pops up with Tommy's Thomasville, Stanley's sound here recalls Illinois Jacquet from the 50s especially in his second chorus. That Stanley really builds a solo is evident right here. Tommy recalls Fats Navarro especially in his descending runs. Tommy played in the Billy Eckstine band shortly after Fats and it is obvious that Fats had a real effect on his playing, Parlan virtually steals this track with a strong solo using grace notes in the then popular style. Tucker and Harewood each have some space before a return to the theme.
Someone To Watch Over Me is more beautiful balladry and Stanley recalls Ben Webster somewhat in his lower register work.
Wild Bill Davis' now standard, Stolen Sweets, is opened by a shout with drums. Stanley comes on with his strongest solo of the album. Tommy and Parlan presage Stanley's return and the close of a delightful LP.
Our second album here was also titled (Jubilee Shout) and assigned a number (4122) without having been issued. Tommy Turrentine and Harewood return but we have three new members of the group.
Little need be said about Kenny Burrell. He is a master guitarist and has been for well over twenty years. His first LP was made for Blue Note and he has been a part of countless classic Blue Note dates.
Sonny Clark is one of the major pianists of the post war era. An early disciple of Bud Powell, he rarely played an uninspired note in a career that lasted only ten years or so. Also from Pittsburgh, he first came to prominence with Buddy DeFranco and The Lighthouse All-Stars. From 1957 to 62 he appeared frequently on Blue Note and made six LPs as a leader. He died of a heroin overdose in January 1963 at the age of thirty-one. Anything he ever played is worth hearing.
Butch Warren has been off the scene for some time but in the early 60s he teamed with Clark (and Billy Higgins) to form another great Blue Note rhythm section. Of all the jazz labels, Blue Note had the best rhythm teams. Rarely was there a weak link.
Stanley' Jubilee Shout kicks off the date. The piece alternates a vamp with straight ahead blowing. Burrell, Tommy and Clark follow the leader.
Kurt Weill's My Ship is best known in the Miles Davis-Gil Evans collaboration (although Rahsaan Roland Kirk made a great version of it). Stanley plays the melody fairly straight but with characteristic warmth. Burrell and Tommy (muted) have fine solos as well.
You Said It swings from bar one. Stanley shouts it out here backed by riffs and is followed, in turn, by Tommy, Burrell, Warren and Clark.
Stanley's line Brother Tom is a bebop line that opens with Tommy strolling over bass and drums. Sonny Clark follows trumpet and guitar with his finest solo of the date. He was a bebop master! Stanley gets the final innings in this spirited workout.
Bass and cymbals ride in Cotton Walk, another Stanley line with something of a resemblance to Killer Joe. Stanley is deep into the blues backed by some strong riffs. Burrell and Tommy follow before Sonny Clark plays what may have been his last solo on record. Shortly after this he entered a hospital with a leg infection and in less than ninety days he would be dead. He maintains and sustains the blues groove.
By the time these albums were recorded Stanley Turrentine was already working with soon to be wife Shirley Scott. Working with an organ group as the only horn further enhanced the boss tenor image. He stayed with Blue Note into 1969 and stayed with Shirley into 1970. At that time his career began to soar. Along the way he has had a string of hit albums, hit singles and hit engagements. He has picked up a nickname, Mister T, that implies the respect he deserves.
In terms of his playing nothing has changed. Instead of My Ship and Someone To Watch Over Me it's now Pieces Of Dreams, Sugar and other hits. Instead of Horace Parlan or Sonny Clark it is full orchestra with strings and voices. But these Blue Note sides are enough, in themselves, to establish his credentials. And since the time of these recordings nobody — that's NOBODY — has done it better.
BOB PORTER
Jazz Columnist
Cash Box
