Album of the Day: Stanley Turrentine, “The Spoiler”

Stanley Turrentine
“The Spoiler” (Cd Blue Note 094637422427)

The collaboration between saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and arranger Duke Pearson gave life to some of the best chapters in the discography of this great sax soloist, with his sanguine and engaging instrumental voice.
Master of jazz without too many intellectual complications, Turrentine mastered the fields of bop and soul jazz before turning to very poor quality fusion in the 1970s; fortunately his works created for Blue Note belong to the best period of his long activity (just think of the records made together with Oliver Nelson, Horace Parlan and his wife Shirley Scott).

Duke Pearson was one of the label’s musical directors and before this “The Spoiler”, from 1966, he had already made an excellent album together with Turrentine, the wild “Rough’n’tumble”.
This time Stanley’s sax sails on Pearson’s crystalline scores flanked by a cast entirely made up of top stars of the jazz firmament including Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Pepper Adams (baritone sax), McCoy Tyner (piano), James Spaulding ( alto sax and flute), Julian Priester (trombone), Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Mickey Roker (drums).
Despite the decidedly large band (almost a mini Big band), Pearson manages to maintain an enviable clarity of writing in all the songs, measuring the voicings with skill, distributing harmonies and counterpoints without sparing himself but making sure to never overwhelm the voice (although robust) of the protagonist.

The material chosen is not free from flaws in taste (just think of the horrible song “Sunny” or the decidedly jukebox-inducing almost twist of the opening “The Magilla”, which however contains fantastic solos by all the soloists), but there’s no need to nitpick: everyone is having a great time and the record immediately communicates a sense of
great energy and vitality that won’t make you stay still for long.

Stanley goes full blast with lightning solos in the frenetic South American atmosphere of “La Fiesta” while showing off his
more sly cantabile for the cover of “You’re Gonna Hear from Me” by André Previn; decidedly more intense and colorful blues atmospheres for the song composed by Max Roach “Lonesome Lover”, where Stanley scores another hit thanks to a magnificent solo.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.