So. Another jazz review. Another walk in the dark with someone
\nwho isn’t a hundred percent sure where he’s going. But trust me on
\nthis one: in the galaxy of jazz saxophone players, Stanley
\nTurrentine is a major constellation.<\/p>\n
After early forays that included one stint playing in a jazz
\ngroup with Ray Charles, and another replacing the great John
\nColtrane in a combo, Turrentine struck out on his own with a series
\nof soul-jazz albums for Blue Note. A prolific recording artist who
\nput out two or three albums a year steadily through the 60s, the
\nearly 70s saw Turrentine begin experimenting with fusion, bringing
\nin electric piano and putting greater focus on melody.<\/p>\n
Turrentine’s 1971 album
\nSalt Song<\/i>, re-released in 1997 with a bonus track added, is
\namong his best and features an all-star cast of seasoned players.
\nIt’s a brilliant combination of traditional hard-bop jazz jams with
\nheavier, r&b\/funk rhythms, fusion music in the truest sense of
\nthe word. It’s funky yet sophisticated, smooth yet full of soul,
\nand its backbone is Turrentine’s rich, silvery tone, ever-graceful
\nyet full of playful personality.<\/p>\n
The disc opens with the whirling rhythm of “Gibraltar,” its
\ncircular, bopping-good bass line courtesy of jazz superstar Ron
\nCarter. This Freddie Hubbard composition is also spiced with an
\nextended solo from Eric Gale on guitar, whose nimble, expressive
\nwork is all over this album.<\/p>\n
Another highlight is the title track, a Brazilian romp with
\naggressive percussion runs from Airto Moreira flowing into a
\nsilky-smooth sax interlude before the two themes merge and
\naccelerate, an arsenal of Amazonian percussion rattling away
\ndouble-time down below while Turrentine decorates the upper
\nregisters with a layer of swing and grace. Bonus track “Vera Cruz,”
\nalso composed by Milton Nascimento, has a similar samba flavor in
\nthe rhythm track, albeit with virtual scat-soloing from Turrentine
\nas he attacks the melody line with energy and intensity.<\/p>\n
In between, Turrentine slows things down with the gospel-tinged
\nlament “I Told Jesus” (heavy on the organ) and “I Haven’t Got
\nAnything Better To Do” a sultry nightclub jazz ballad featuring
\nbrushes, cymbals, upright bass and gentle electric piano. Finishing
\noff the track, strings add an extra dollop of romance as Turrentine
\neases through a strong, sweet melody.<\/p>\n
The steady-building album-closer and sole Turrentine composition
\n“Storm” spotlights superb drum work by Billy Cobham and another
\nrippling, elegant Gale solo on the electric guitar, in addition to
\nmore fine sax work from the author. They just don’t make music like
\nthis anymore – both graceful and exciting, improvisational and
\nprecise. It’s sweet, sweet stuff, as well as a very enjoyable next
\nstep in my own personal jazz appreciation learning process. Highly
\nrecommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6909],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37703","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stanley-turrentine","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37703"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}