Turrentine x Scott

I can’t say that there are too many dates that Stanley Turrentine led that I really care about. The live set that finds him paired with Freddie Hubbard is definitely one of them – but with the line up that appears on that disc, it’s not too difficult to figure out why it turned out well. But even if Turrentine didn’t have tremendous leadership qualities, he had good taste in woman. And in 1960 he married organist Shirley Scott.

Scott had been leading groups for a few years and had adapted Jimmy Smith’s loungey style to something a bit more funky. Most commonly, though, Scott is known for her work later in the ‘60s, but she worked on a few dates with her husband. And the same year of the pair’s marriage, both played on Turrentine’s Chip Off the Old Block.

Turrentine was and should be most associated with lesser bop offerings – he never played a huge role as a sideman, although he was more than an adept player. The line up on Chip Off the Old Block, though, easily makes up for any perceived short comings that he might have had as a musician. In addition to Scott and Turrentine, who were both more than melodically inclined, Blue Mitchell accompanies the group on trumpet.

Mitchell, though, who died before making his mark on jazz, has a smooth tone – not exactly a Miles disciple, but that’s obviously a touchstone – was given as much room to solo as either of the newly weds. And even on the first track, a Count Basie composition, the trumpeter is given the first opportunity to show off. While the solo can’t be said to be either conceptually or melodically difficult, Mitchell’s playing, which is bolstered by Scott’s bubbly comping, sets the tone for the rest of the disc. It’s not explosive, but groovy in a laid back and assured way.

Even with such an early highlight, another solo easily trumps the work of Mitchell on that introductory “One O’Clock Jump.” Unfortunately for the set leader, it’s not his, but his wife’s solo that makes this disc worth listening to. On another song associated with Basie and written by his long time musical arranger Neal Hefti, “Cherry Point” finds each melodic player being given a chance to chime in. And it’s not to say that Turrentine’s playing here is sub par, but there simply isn’t too much fire there. But as he is being backed by the organ, it becomes clear that the solo following his is going to surpass the sax work.

Here the laid back style that Shirley Scott would become known for is put on display. Again, there’s nothing mystifying about the playing here. It’s just bluesy and soulful. Again, one can’t say that Turrentine doesn’t have the blues down, but there’s nothing in his playing that sounds like it’s coming from that place deep inside of him. Some place where he’s stored his hurt or pain and anguish. If he didn’t have a place like that, it should make one wonder what he did with emotion – it certainly didn’t always come out in his playing.