Home » Jazz Musicians » Stanley Turrentine

Stanley Turrentine

Stanley William Turrentine was one of the most distinctive tenor saxophonists in jazz. Known for his big, warm, sound, "The Sugar Man" or the original "Mr. T" found inspiration in the blues and turned it into a hugely successful career with a #1 hit and four Grammy nominations — first in R&B and then in jazz.

Born on April 5, 1934 in Pittsburgh, a city that has produced more than its share of jazz masters, Turrentine hailed from a musical family. His saxophone-playing father was a big influence, as was his stride piano-playing mother and older brother, the late trumpeter Tommy Turrentine.

One of Stanley's earliest influences on sax was tenor great Illinois Jacquet. Jacquet once encouraged a 12-year old Stanley to sit in with him. At 17, Turrentine went on the road with bluesman Lowell Fulson. In 1953, he was hired by R&B saxman and bandleader Earl Bostic to replace John Coltrane.

A consummate musician who learned his craft through disparate experiences and influences, Turrentine received his only formal musical training during his military stint in the mid-'50s. In 1959, he jumped from the frying pan into the fire when he left the military and went straight into the band of the great drummer Max Roach.

Turrentine married organist Shirley Scott (left) in 1960. When they moved to Philadelphia, they befriended Hammond B-3 organ legend Jimmy Smith and Turrentine quickly immersed himself in the Smith's soulful jazz organ sound. He even recorded on Jimmy's epochal Blue Note album Midnight Special.

The organ-centered soul-jazz that Jimmy Smith and Shirley Scott concocted provided Turrentine the perfect gateway to cross over into pop territory. His first foray in this new, more radio-friendly music began in 1969 when he signed with Creed Taylor's slick and successful CTI label.

Turrentine's first album for CTI, Sugar, was released in 1970 and yielded the classic tune of the same name. He continued with a string a pop-laced crossover albums for CTI including the 1971 hit Don't Mess with Mr. T. His relative success, despite his continued ability to deliver in the straight-ahead jazz vein, led to a predictable critical backlash. Listen to L.A. Times jazz critic Don Heckman, bassist Ray Brown, and Stanley talk about the critical backlash he received after making pop-oriented hit albums

Nevertheless, Turrentine persevered on the ever-changing landscape of jazz, by tapping into his enduring, soulful sound and bluesy approach. He remained a perennial favorite among jazz fans well up to his untimely death on Sept.

CTI Acid Jazz Grooves by Various Artists

by Arnaldo DeSouteiro
June 19, 2024

The CD you are holding in your hands is a very special compilation. It's the celebration of CTI as one of the most “sampled" labels on Earth! For the past ten years, many CTI tracks have been cut up, sampled, scratched and looped to create new songs for a new audience. Many of the selections on this album (all of them produced by Creed Taylor and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder) represented the basic inspiration and major influence in the ...

Radio & Podcasts

CTI: A Guilty Pleasure Special

by Patrick Burnette
August 27, 2022

Mike's busy in Europe so Pat goes solo with a look at controversial jazz label CTI. A lynchpin of the early seventies, record buyers loved the artwork, high production values and impeccable musicianship, but hard-core jazzbos and critics were suspicious that owner Creed Taylor was putting too much sugar into the mixes, not to mention those sprinklings of Stravinsky! This episode was recorded before Creed Taylor's death but now stands as a tribute to him. Playlist Discussion of ...

Reassessing

Back At The Chicken Shack

by Thomas Fletcher
June 20, 2020

Back At The Chicken Shack celebrates 60 years since its recording date at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs. The same session produced Midnight Special (Blue Note, 1961), though Back At The Chicken Shack would have to wait three years for its release. The label's co-founder, Alfred Lion, later revealed that the healthy sales of this album, alongside many others from Jimmy Smith, kept the record company afloat. The album features, at the time, a youthful but ...

Multiple Reviews

CTI on BGO, Part 2

by Jakob Baekgaard
April 3, 2019

2018 proved to be a very good year for reissues of CTI-albums on the British label, BGO. They stepped up with an abundance of albums from the likes of guitarist Jim Hall, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine and flautist Hubert Laws (you can read about them here). So far, 2019 also looks promising and kicks off with releases from Brazilian percussion wizard Airto Moreira and Turrentine. Hubert Laws also returns, this time in a combined release with guitarist George Benson.

My Blue Note Obsession

Stanley Turrentine and The 3 Sounds: Blue Hour – 1960

by Marc Davis
June 21, 2015

Every good record collection has music for many moods. Feeling frantic? Try Dizzy Gillespie or the Ramones. Feel like dancing? Definitely the big bands. Feeling wistful? Maybe Ben Webster or Frank Sinatra. But if you're feeling blue, you need Stanley Turrentine, and Blue Hour is exactly the right prescription. Stanley Turrentine is the very definition of jazzy blues, in almost any setting, with almost any backing band. His soulful sax features heavily on two of my ...

270

Album Review

Stanley Turrentine: Don't Mess With Mister T.

Read "Don't Mess With Mister T." reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 25, 2011

When the CTI label originally released tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine's Don't Mess With Mister T. in 1973, it managed to bring music to the public that served as a sign of the times, while also helping to define the times. The soul within Turrentine's horn had been at the center of his earlier successes for the label--Sugar (CTI, 1970), Salt Song (CTI, 1971) and Cherry (CTI, 1972)--but it really rose to the surface and reached its peak with this release. ...

Album Review

Stanley Turrentine: Salt Song

Read "Salt Song" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 6, 2011

Stanley Turrentine's Sugar (CTI, 1970) has always stood out as the defining album in the tenor saxophonist's post-Blue Note discography, but that recording only marked the beginning of his beautiful relationship with Creed Taylor's CTI imprint. Turrentine's time with the label spanned the first half of the '70s and produced a few other winning albums that draped his thick, soulful sound in more modern aural fabrics of the times. Salt Song (CTI, 1971) was his follow-up to ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Stanley Turrentine

Source: Michael Ricci
April 5, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Stanley Turrentine's birthday today!

Stanley William Turrentine was one of the most distinctive tenor saxophonists in jazz. Known for his big, warm, sound, “The Sugar Man" or the original “Mr. T" found inspiration in the blues and turned it into a hugely successful career with a #1 hit and four Grammy nominations — first in R&B and then in jazz. Born on April 5, 1934 in Pittsburgh, a city that has produced more than its ...
read more

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Stanley Turrentine

Source: Michael Ricci
April 5, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Stanley Turrentine's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Stanley Turrentine

Source: Michael Ricci
April 5, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Stanley Turrentine's birthday today!

Video / DVD

Stanley Turrentine: Let It Go

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 4, 2021

Yesterday, around 3 p.m., I felt like listening to Stanley Turrentine. I wanted something upbeat and sassy by the tenor saxophonist framed by Shirley Scott's finger-popping organ. I also wanted the groove to be mid-'60s swinging—churchy and soulful, not riffy or electric. A few great standards and a bunch of blues. Most of all, I wanted Turrentine and Scott to square off on solos, showing each other what they got. So I put on Turrentine's Let It Go, one of ...
read more