Stanley Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Known for his big, warm, sound, “The Sugar Man” or the original “Mr. T” found inspiration in the blues and turned it into a hugely successful career with a #1 hit and four Grammy nominations -- first in R&B; and then in jazz. He was described by critic Steve Huey as "renowned for his distinctively thick, rippling tone and earthy grounding in the blues."
Stanley William Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, United States, into a musical family. His father, Thomas Turrentine Sr., was a saxophonist with Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans, his mother played stride piano, and his older brother Tommy Turrentine was a trumpet player. The brothers played at the Perry Bar in Pittsburgh, their first professional gig, while they were still in high school, and often performed together as adults. From his earliest years, Stanley was fascinated by the tenor saxophone. "When I heard my father play," he recalled, "it sounded like somebody talking." As soon as he could hold the instrument, he began learning to play it, and turned professional immediately upon leaving school.
Turrentine gained his early experience touring in rhythm-and-blues bands, and was at first greatly influenced by Illinois Jacquet. He first toured with Lowell Fulson's band in 1951, at 17, and in 1953 Earl Bostic asked him to join his band, replacing John Coltrane. He also played in groups led by the pianist and composer Tadd Dameron. Turrentine received his only formal musical training during his military stint in the mid-1950s. In 1959, he left the military and went straight into the band of the drummer Max Roach.
In 1960, Turrentine began recording under his own name for Blue Note, which was then consolidating its reputation as the most prestigious record label in jazz. His musical companions on those early sessions included Art Blakey and Herbie Hancock. However, it was the growing fashion for "soul jazz", which harked back to the eloquent simplicity of the old spirituals and blues, that established Stanley Turrentine as a big name in the Blue Note catalogue. Upon moving to Philadelphia, Turrentine struck up a chemistry with another organist, Jimmy Smith, appearing on Smith's 1960 classics Back at the Chicken Shack and Midnight Special, among others.
In 1960, Turrentine married Shirley Scott, a young organist with a rising reputation, and together they ran a successful "organ combo" - the generic term for a small band built around the delightfully greasy and lubricious tones of the B3-model Hammond organ. "The thing was," Turrentine later explained, "you could get a big band sound with just three pieces, so that saved money for the club owner." Albums recorded under both Turrentine's and Shirley Scott's names during the 1960s retain their sensuous charm to this day, in particular Shirley Scott - Queen of the Organ, recorded at a New Jersey night club in 1964.
Turrentine recalled: "We called it the 'Chitlins Circuit.' A lot of small places, with bad sound systems, small audiences . . . We used to deadhead a lot. Twice we drove to the coast in three days, New York to L.A., eating in the car, sleeping in the car, with the organ in a little trailer in the back. You'd get there to the gig and for days you'd still feel like you're still riding. It's funny now; it wasn't so funny then. We'd get to clubs where the hallways were too narrow for the organ, and once in Virginia, we had to carry the organ up three flights of fire escapes. But for all that, we'd go in that night and we'd blow our hearts out."
Turrentine and Scott were divorced in 1971 and he addressed himself to the growing taste for jazz-tinged pop music, or "fusion". He was lucky in his choice of Creed Taylor's CTI as his new record label. Taylor had a genius for designing not only the sound of a record but its look, and even feel. His albums were sumptuous, gatefold affairs, with deep, glowing colours. Taylor would tinker with the music, adding strings or sound effects, without consulting the artists, but he created a smooth form of jazz fusion that attracted a sizeable market.
His first album for CTI, Sugar, recorded in 1970, proved one of his biggest successes and a seminal recording for the label, closely followed by Don't Mess with Mister T. (1971). Adapting his style to different niches, he recorded albums of Stevie Wonder songs, funky dance music and romantic ballads. Yet his reputation as a straight-ahead jazz musician remained unaffected by these excursions.
He worked with Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, George Benson, Bob James, Richard Tee, Idris Muhammad, Ron Carter, Grant Green and Eric Gale. He returned to soul jazz in the 1980s and into the 1990s. Turrentine persevered on the ever-changing landscape of jazz, by tapping into his enduring, soulful sound and bluesy approach. He remained a perennial favourite among jazz fans well up to his untimely death from a massive stroke in New York City on September 12, 2000, aged 66. He was buried in Pittsburgh's Allegheny Cemetery.
(Edited
from The Telegraph, Wikipedia, AllMusic, Hard Bop & All About Jazz)
Here’s a selection of Turrentine video clips. #1 - [0:00] - Four Sleepers/Pools / #2 - [1:23] - Lou Rawls Stormy Monday #3 - [2:56] - In France, 1960 Stanley and Tommy. #4 - [5:11] - Don't Mess w/ Mr. T #5 - [7:10] - Impressions .. #6 - [9:05] - Scratch My Back #7 - [11:03] - Sugar.