Never Let Me Go

Between the January 8 session with Kenny Burrell and the January 10 session with Shirley Scott, 1963 was starting out as a pretty good year for Stanley Turrentine, but outside of the studio, ominous clouds were starting to gather over the geopolitical landscape.  On January 2, the Viet Cong won their first major victory in Viet Nam at the Battle of Ap Bac, and on January 14, George Wallace became the governor of Alabama, famously proclaiming at his inaugural speech, "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!"

On January 18, the Stanley Turrentine Quartet - Stanley, Shirley Scott (organ), Sam Jones (bass), and  Clarence Johnston (drums) - returned to the Van Gelder Studio.  They recorded four tracks, Without A Song, Never Let Me Go, Major's Minor, and They Can't Take That Away From Me, but for reasons unknown, the session was initially rejected by Blue Note.  They Can't Take That Away From Me was eventually included on Turrentine's subsequent LP, Never Let Me Go, along with the titular track.  

After that gig, Clemson University accepted its first black student on January 28 in South Carolina, the last U.S. state to hold out against desegregation.  On February 8, the Kennedy Administration made travel and financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal.  On February 11, The Beatles recorded their debut album Please Please Me in a single day at the Abbey Road Studios in London. Times were changing.

On February 13, Stanley and Shirley returned to Van Gelder Studio to record some new tracks.  The lineup this time included Major Holley (bass) and Ray Barretto (congas) from the Kenny Burrell Midnight Blue session the previous month, perhaps to recapture some of the magic of that previous recording.  Stanley's long-time drummer, Al Harewood, was also in the lineup.  The quintet re-recorded Without A Song and Major's Minor from the ill-fated January 18 session, along with Sara's Dance, a Turrentine composition, and the usual assortment of popular show tunes and standards.  

If the goal was to recapture some of the soul-jazz magic of the Midnight Blue session, it worked.  The session, along with They Can't Take That Away From Me and Never Let Me Go from the January session, was eventually released in December 1963 by Blue Note as the album, Never Let Me Go. 

Thom Jurek's AllMusic review gives an almost track-by-track rundown of the LP:

The set opens with a stomping version of Lloyd Price's Trouble, with Scott taking the early solo while driving the groove. Turrentine burns the edges of the tune and Barretto punches up the middle with decorative flourishes and fills. This is followed by the a deeply moving read of God Bless the Child, with Turrentine playing in his smokiest, silkiest, Ben Webster-inflected tone. Scott's solo, by contrast, is pure blues. The coolest tune on the set is Major's Minor, written by Stanley and Shirley. With its seeming quotations from So What? and Chim Chim Cherie in the foreground, it gives way to a completely funky blues, which is a bit of a surprise. But the easy swing and in-the-pocket saxophone soloing punctuated by fat, grooved-out chords by Scott make it the gem it is. The alternate rhythm section of Jones and Johnston appear on the title track. This is one of those grand ballads where the organ acts as the testifying pulpit from which to speak, and Turrentine not only speaks, he weeps and whispers and wails here. All the while his rhythm section layers washes of percussion and muted changes in ever-present but subtle shades of blue. It's a stunner.