Stanley Turrentine |
 |
|
Wed. September 13.2000 7:49 PM EDT |
||
Appreciation: Stanley Turrentine Spoke To Fans With Heart, Big SoundTenor saxophonist died on Tuesday at age 66. by Contributing Editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen |
||||
|
||||
 |
Tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine cut his first album as a leader in 1959. ( ) |
|
||
The late tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine may have been best known for his crossover pop, but colleagues and critics agree that he never completely left his straight-ahead jazz roots. "He always had the
Turrentine died on Tuesday after suffering two strokes, one Sunday evening and another Monday morning, according to the Associated Press. He was 66. Turrentine emerged as a post-bop sax player in the '50s when he replaced John Coltrane in Lowell Fulson's band, which also featured saxophonist Earl Bostic, drummer Max Roach and Smith. Bassist Ron Carter said that even though a number of legendary sax players emerged in the 1950s, Turrentine always stood out. "He was one of the few sax players who came around with Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane who had his own unique sound," Carter said. "He didn't sound like anybody else, and that's not an easy thing to do." Turrentine cut his first solo album, Stan the Man Turrentine, for Bainbridge Records in 1959, with Roach behind the kit. 'A True Original' "He was a true original," Roach, 76, said Wednesday (Sept. 13). "He played with great soul." Turrentine recorded as a leader and on several of Smith's albums in the '60s, and was often criticized by jazz purists for his soul-jazz, R&B-based approach. That criticism reached its height when the title track of his 1970 CTI album, Sugar, became a pop-radio staple. Orrin Keepnews, who produced Turrentine's 1976 album, Everybody Come On Out (Fantasy), said he always felt that any accusations that the saxophonist sold out missed the point. "The path that he went down was a natural path for him," Keepnews, 77, said. "It's where his sound took him. It's not like he was captured and brought over to pop." Carter, 63, who played on several of Turrentine's albums, recalled the saxophonist as an intense but gentle bandleader. "He always had a plan of his own," Carter said. "He was also open to suggestions, but he'd always implement his plan if those suggestions weren't working out." Author, Village Voice jazz critic and sonincnet.com columnist Gary Giddins said he preferred Turrentine's straight-ahead jazz playing to his more R&B- and pop-oriented work. But he said there was no denying Turrentine's unique sound. "The main thing with Stanley was his big, beautiful, fat sound," Giddins said. "Not a lot of people play that way anymore, and he only got better with age. He realized that you don't have to show off and play a lot of notes to make a connection with people." When Turrentine collapsed on Sunday, he was about to close out an engagement at the Blue Note club in New York City with singer Marlena Shaw. He also was set to perform later this month at the Ann Arbor Jazz & Blues Festival in Ann Arbor, Mich. Still In Good Form Dan Forte, the Blue Note's international director of publicity and marketing, said Turrentine was in fine form during the Blue Note shows. "He still had that sound," Forte said. "He never sacrificed his integrity." Keepnews said that despite the criticisms of Turrentine's '70s work on the CTI and Fantasy labels, the albums still sound fresh. "There's a whole lot of jazz that comes close to R&B, and that's not a discredit to either idiom," Keepnews said. "To me, Stanley's music, like Gene Ammons', was bar music of the very best kind. That's pretty damned good music." Turrentine returned to more straight-ahead jazz in the '80s and '90s. His most recent release was Blue Hour — Complete Sessions, which came out in June on Blue Note. His last new recording was 1999's Do You Have Any Sugar?, on the Concord label. In a press release for that album, Turrentine said, "Of all the albums I've made, I feel like the best ones are always the ones that come naturally." Turrentine lived in Fort Washington, Md., near Washington, D.C. Two memorial services are planned in Pittsburgh, where Turrentine was born. They'll be held 2–9 p.m. on Sunday and Monday at the West Funeral Home at 2215 Wylie Ave. Turrentine's funeral will be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at the Macedonia Baptist Church, 2225 Bedford Ave. Turrentine's wife, Judith, requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the American Diabetes Association, 300 Penn Center Blvd., Suite 700, Pittsburgh, PA 15235. Donations should be noted "In memory of Stanley Turrentine," c/o Burgess Management, 3225 Prytania St., New Orleans, LA 70115. (Contributing Editor Bob Margolis contributed to this report.) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
 |
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Stanley Turrentine |
|
All news for Stanley Turrentine |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
