Up At Minton's

On the evening of February 23, 1961, the Stanley Turrentine Quintet performed four sets at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, New York.  Instead of his brother Tommy on trumpet, the Quintet for this date included Grant Green on guitar, as well as Turrentine's usual rhythm section of Us Three (Horace Parlan, piano; George Tucker, bass; and  Al Harewood, drums).

The sets were a mix of mostly show tunes popular at the time and some blues-based jam sessions.  Selected songs from the sets were released that year as two separate LPs, Up At Minton's Volume 1 and Up At Minton's Volume 2. Other than different color schemes on the front, the album covers are nearly identical, and the titles Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 only appear on the back covers.  The cuts culled from the February 1961 session for the two LPs were:

Vol. 1:

1. But Not for Me (George & Ira Gershwin) - 11:29
2. Stanley's Time (Stanley Turrentine) - 11:03
3. Broadway (Billy Bird, Teddy McRae & Henri Woode) - 10:38
4. Yesterdays (Otto Harbach & Jerome Kern) - 11:39

Vol. 2:

1. Later at Minton's (Stanley Turrentine) - 13:55
2. Come Rain or Come Shine (Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer) - 8:34
3. Love for Sale (Cole Porter) - 15:11
4. Summertime (George & Ira Gershwin & DuBose Heyward) - 7:14

Later At Minton's (Vol. 2, Track 1) was one of those blues jam sessions that was performed in the middle of the third set, "some very, very funky slow blues" as Stanley introduces it at the start of the track.  

The archivists at The Jazz Discography Project have somehow managed to obtain the complete set list from the 1961 session.  Here is is, along with references to which tracks are from which set.

1st Set

1. The Serpent's Tooth (Unreleased)
2. By Myself (Unreleased)
3. Blues (Unreleased)

2nd Set

1. Love For Sale (Vol. 2, Track 3)
2. In Your Own Sweet Way (Unreleased)
3. Come Rain Or Come Shine (Vol. 2, Track 2)
4. But Not For Me (Vol.1, Track 1)

3rd set

1. Stanley's Time (Vol. 1, Track 2)
2. Broadway (Vol. 1, Track 3)
3. Later At Minton's (Vol. 2, Track 1)
4. Yesterdays (Vol. 1, Track 4)
5. Squeeze Me (Unreleased)

4th set

1. Blues (Unreleased)
2. Just In Time (Unreleased)
3. Summertime (Vol. 2 Track 4)
4. This Can't Be Love (Unreleased)
5. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise (Unreleased)
6. I'll Remember April (Unreleased)

Based on Later A Minton's, I'd love to hear those other two blues jams from the 1st and the 4th sets. 

Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem.  The door to the actual club itself is at 206 West 118th. Minton's was founded in 1938 and is famous for its role in the development of bebop.  Jam sessions in the early 1940s featured musicians such as Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. 

Minton's thrived for three decades until its decline near the end of the 1960s, and its eventual closing in 1974. After being shuttered for more than 30 years, the newly remodeled club reopened its doors in May 2006 under the name Uptown Lounge at Minton's Playhouse. However, the reopened club was closed again in 2010 and remodeling began in 2012. In 2013, Minton's reopened a third time as an upscale jazz club and restaurant. Due to the coranavirus pandemic, Minton's is only offering a take-out menu at this time.

Although the club was open for a little more than three decades, Minton's Playhouse will always be associated with the 1940s and the jam sessions that gave birth to bebop.

Minton's in June 2019