Song:Sugar
Album:Sugar: 40th Anniversary Edition
Tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine was one of the most versatile jazz musicians. He was equally comfortable playing bop or R & B. The 1970 album Sugar was his first album on CTI Records after recording for Blue Note for most of the 60s. He was born Apr. 5, 1934 in Pittsburgh in a family of musicians. His father Thomas Turrentine Sr. played sax for Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans. His mother played stride piano. And his brother Tommy Turrentine played trumpet. Like a lot of sax players of the era, he was influenced by Illinois Jacquet's honking sax. So in the 50s, he played R & B with Ray Charles and Lowell Fulson. And in 1953 he replaced John Coltrane in Earl Bostic's band. After a mid-50s stint in the military, Turrentine played with legendary drummer Max Roach. It was there that he met organist Shirley Scott and they married in 1960. They moved to Philadelphia and a couple of appearances on Jimmy Smith albums earned Turrentine a contract with Blue Note. His debut album Look Out! was released in 1960. By the late 60s, Turrentine and Scott divorced and Turrentine left Blue Note for producer Creed Taylor's new label CTI. Sugar was his 1970 CTI debut and is probably one of Turrentine's best albums. And the song Sugar is one of his best known compositions. Musicians on the album include Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, George Benson on guitar, Ron Carter on bass and Billy Kaye on drums. Lonnie Liston Smith plays electric piano only on the track Sugar. The 40th anniversary edition of Sugar adds a live recording of Sugar recorded at The Hollywood Bowl in 1971 featuring Hubert Laws, Hank Crawford, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Billy Cobham and Airto Moreira at a CTI All Stars show. Turrentine left CTI for Fantasy in 1974. His Fantasy recordings weren't as good as his CTI recordings. Stanley Turrentine moved to Maryland in the 90s and continued to tour and occasionally record until his death from a stroke on Sept. 12, 2000 at age 66. Here's Stanley Turrentine performing Sugar on the TV show Night Moves 1989.
No comments:
Post a Comment