Excellent compiled, with the participation of the greatest musicians in jazz history. Vocal and instrumentals songs, highly recommended.
As the man who wrote the liner notes says, Stanley Turrentine may be the only Texas tenor player to come out of Pittsburgh - and you can hear several of the reasons why in this distillation of his Blue Note dates from 1960 to 1966, plus a grand leap all the way to 1984. Though his sound can be heard as early as the fairly conventional "Little Sheri," the real soulful Turrentine begins to emerge in "Since I Fell for You" with the 3 Sounds, and really explodes in the splendid "River's Invitation," thanks in large part to Oliver Nelson's great chart and Herbie Hancock's irresistible comping. "Smiley Stacy" is a Les McCann blues swinger that inspires a tough, characteristically pointed solo from Turrentine and some real burning from McCann and bassist Herbie Lewis - and he digs deeply into "God Bless the Child," with then-wife Shirley Scott acting cool and caressing on the Hammond organ…
Over the years, the phrases "organ/tenor group," "tenor/organ group," and "organ/sax combo" have often been synonymous with soul-jazz. When soul-jazz fans hear the words "organ" and "tenor" in the same sentence, they immediately think of all things funky; they immediately think of Stanley Turrentine's work with Shirley Scott or Gene Ammons' encounters with Jack McDuff and Johnny "Hammond" Smith. But one shouldn't forget about the post-bop innovations of Larry Young, who moved organ groups beyond soul-jazz and paved the way for everyone from Barbara Dennerlein to John Medeski. And on this live album, one hears a tenor/organ trio that has nothing to do with soul-jazz and everything to do with post-bop…
Chicago electric guitarist George Freeman was a quintessential sideman when backing bands led by Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Richard "Groove" Holmes, Gene Ammons, and Shirley Scott. This is his debut recording, done in the height of the soul-jazz era circa 1969, featuring his famed brother Von Freeman on tenor sax for four tracks, drummer Billy Mitchell throughout, and either Sonny Burke or Robert Pierce on the Hammond B-3 organ. At times Freeman's sound traces to no single individual source, though it is steeped in Chi-Town blues and a progressive stance that is apart from the Wes Montgomery/George Benson school of the day.
Philadelphia jazz singer Lou Lanza had an excellent point when he asserted that jazz improvisers who ignore rock and R&B songs "are cutting themselves off from a lot of worthwhile material." Lanza wasn't suggesting that jazz artists should totally give up the Tin Pan Alley standards they've been performing all these years – actually, he's done plenty of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin gems himself – but he was saying that if you're going to use popular songs as vehicles for jazz expression, there is no reason not to interpret Sting, Billy Joel or Prince along with Harry Warren and George Gershwin.
Eddie Harris and Les McCann's Second Movement is the second and last duet recording by Harris and McCann, and the follow-up to their 1969 "live" recording Swiss Movement. It is among the series from Label M which launched its reissue series from the Atlantic Records' archives in November 2000. The tenor saxophonist and the vocalist and pianist display their brand of showmanship and musicality that rivaled such great pairings as Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Shirley Scott and Stanley Turrentine, or Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. This CD is a soul/jazz funk workout and features great technology that emphasizes one of their best songs, "Shorty Rides Again.
Don Patterson (1936-1988) wasn't the most distinctive organist to follow on the heels of Jimmy Smith's success. But, like Larry Young and Shirley Scott who also played piano first, Patterson was undoubtedly one of the more melodic and lyrical of organ practitioners. What's more, while his more popular peers ventured into soul jazz, funk and pop, Patterson stayed firmly rooted within the bop tradition. He recorded a whopping 15 albums for Prestige between 1964 and 1969, then recorded only five more for the Muse label until his final 1978 album, recorded a decade before his death.