Stanley Joran

The seven-disc Stanley Clarke anthology, The Complete 1970s Epic Albums Collection, brings together all six of the influential jazz bassist's original albums for Epic. Included here: 1974's Stanley Clarke, 1975's Journey to Love, 1976's School Days, 1978's Modern Man, 1979's I Wanna Play for You, as well as the 1991 concert compilation Live (1976-1977). These are highly recommended jazz, funk, and fusion releases and must-haves for any Clarke fan.

Obscure material by Stanley Turrentine - recorded in 1967, but not issued until 1979, and then only briefly! This album is a very pleasant and stylish gathering of some top musicians, featuring among them Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, McCoy Tyner, Joe Farrell and Ron Carter. The tunes are arranged by Duke Pearson and recorded superbly by Rudy Van Gelder.
The album's got Stan working strongly in the Joyride style of his previous Blue Note hit - with larger arrangements from Duke Pearson, in a groove that sets Turrentine's tenor up with plenty of soulful rhythms! Pearson brings a nice sense of lyricism to the session, even a hint of bossa at times - and the sharp-edged Turrentine tone is a welcome one throughout - setting sparks and illuminating corners of the music with a deeply personal feel.

This collection provides a great value, especially if you total up the costs of each album separately. There are a few issues of which you should be aware. Sound quality is acceptable, but not spectacular. Audiophiles will hate these discs, but I assure you that they are listenable. More importantly, these are not cheesy 'needle drop' transfers from scratchy LPs. Plus these are from albums recorded in the late 1950s/early 1960s during an era when recording technology was rapidly improving. If you compare these to some of the albums to which I've linked below you will see that the ones in this collection do not have bonus tracks. In all cases you are getting tracks that were released on the original album. The six albums span four discs.

Paul Stanley's 1978 solo album was the most Kiss-like of the four, sounding more like an official band release rather than a solo outing…

Stanley Turrentine is generally pegged as a soul-jazz man but also has proven quite adept in several other styles of modern jazz, as heard on this diverse compilation of tunes from three initially unreleased Blue Note dates with a larger ensemble. While hitting up a handful of the pop tunes of the day, Turrentine shows he is interested in and capable of tackling more modern compositions, with the vibrant and exciting assistance of pianist McCoy Tyner, also not a slouch when soul-jazz is placed in front of him. That Turrentine plays a most enjoyable fluid, tuneful, and tonic tenor saxophone has never been questioned, but what he adds in value as a leader on these tracks further cements his estimable reputation…

While this CD didn't have the vibe of our first record together, it was vastly superior to the second CD. There was a lot of raw energy coupled with orchestration finesse. That's what Clarke/Duke is about - sweet and sour! ~ George Duke

If you are an electric bass player, this album will keep you busy for a while, listening to Mr. Clarke's excellent work. His range of tone qualities and techniques are amply exhibited here. This is a showcase for Stanley Clarke's virtuosity, and really an encyclopedia of the state of electric bass technique at the end of the 20th century.