1961

1961, the next chapter in Stanley Turrentine's discography, begins in a confusing manner.  In late 1960 (December 18, to be precise), he recorded a session with his brother Tommy on trumpet and the members of Horace Parlen's Us Three (Parlan, piano; George Tucker, bass; and Al Harewood, drums).  This is the same lineup as The Horace Parlan Quintet's Speakin' My Piece, but this time recording as The Stanley Turrentine Quintet.

That's not the confusing part.  According to The Jazz Discography's Stanley Turrentine page, the December 18, 1960 session was rejected by Blue Note.  I don't know if the playing wasn't up to their standard, if there was a problem with the recording, or if Blue Note just determined that there wasn't a market for another Stanley Turrentine album at that time.   Mystery to me.

But then, a month later (January 20, 1961), exactly 60 years ago to the day, the ST Quintet returned to Van Gelder's Blue Note studio and re-recorded the same songs over again.  The tracks still weren't released until 1978, and then as one disc of the two-LP album, Jubilee Shouts, along with a second disc of a 1962 session with a different lineup.   The tracks from the 1961 set were also released in 1987 as a stand-alone album, Comin' Your Way.  

Why were the 1960 tracks rejected by Blue Note?  Why were the 1961 tracks not released until 1978, and then as part of a two-fer anthology?  And then after the two-fer anthology, why was Comin' Your Way released as a stand-alone in 1987?  Damned if I know, but then again, I'm not Blue Note producer Alfred Lion, so there.

The album is a relatively straight-forward hard bop set, mostly covers of popular show tunes, alternating between upbeat numbers and slower, bluesier songs.  The one original composition is Tommy Turrentine's Thomasville.  Another mystery - is the titular Thomasville an actual town, or a self-reference to trumpeter Tommy? 

Later, Stanley would go on to record Thomasville again in 1992, with an all-star lineup including trumpeter Freddie Hubbard filling in for brother Tommy.  The main thing I get from comparing the two tracks is that Hubbard really blows the doors off of Tommy's performance, but that's no disrespect to Tommy - Freddie pretty much blew the doors off of everybody. 

The impatient can hear Freddie's solo between the 2:00- and 3:00-minute marks.