Stanley Turrentine The Blue Note Quintet, Sextet Studio Sessions

If ever there were a record that both fit perfectly and stood outside the CTI Records' stable sound, it is Sugar by Stanley Turrentine. Turrentine, a veteran of the soul-jazz scene since the '50s, was accompanied by a who's who of groove players, including guitarist George Benson, Lonnie Liston Smith on electric piano, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, bassist Ron Carter, organist Butch Cornell, and drummer Billy Kaye, among others. The title track is a deep soul blues workout with a swinging backbeat and the rhythm section fluidly streaming through fours and eights as Benson, Hubbard, and Turrentine begin slowly and crank up the heat, making the pace and stride of the cut simmer then pop - especially in Hubbard's solo. This is truly midnight blue, and the party's at the point of getting really serious or about to break up…

Blue Note Plays Rodgers & Hart is a solid single-disc collection of standards by Rodgers & Hart culled from various Blue Note jazz albums. Included are such cuts as pianist Sonny Clark's version of "Lover" off his eponymous 1957 date as well as trumpeter Thad Jones' duet with guitarist Kenny Burrell on "Little Girl Blue" from the 1956 release Detroit-New York Junction.

This album of sophisticated 1980s jazz-funk from one of the master practitioners of the genre features Stanley Turrentine accompanied by a small group on a selection of mostly uptempo pieces, including the disco-influenced "Paradise" and the ballad "I Knew It Couldn't Happen," the latter with vocals by the well-known singer and actress Irene Cara.

Granted, a single-disc overview of Blue Note's finest recordings can't help but offer listeners more than a myopic view of the label's true scope, but for jazz neophytes, this nine-track collection will undoubtedly serve as a tantalizing taste of the company's riches. The song selection, though lacking few surprises, is consistently wonderful – how could a disc featuring John Coltrane's "Blue Train," Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage," Horace Silver's "Song for My Father" and Lee Morgan's "The Sidewinder" be anything but? – and purists' complaints aside, for new fans it's a solid introduction to the Blue Note magic.