js Throughout much of the 60s and early 70s, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine participated in some of the finest RnB flavored jazz records out there. Fast forward to 1977 and the jazz world is going through some serious growing pains as artists forget about the music and concentrate on the money with watered down fusion and disco ruling the day. Turpentine’s “Flipped-Flipped Out” came out in 77 and carries a lot of the commercial baggage of that time period. The first side is the worse with very simplistic arrangements of Motown classics done up with bland strings and uninspired lead lines from Stanley. All of these old Motown chestnuts were gems in their original formats, but these instrumental readings on “Flipped” drain all the fun and life out of the originals. As I was listening to Turrentine’s tired reading of “My Cherie Amour”, I couldn’t help comparing it to Rahsan Roland Kirk’s vibrant and lively version of the same song.

On the second side things improve a bit as the arrangers mostly leave out the simple string arrangements and go for a more RnBish rhythm section and some backing horns. Gone also are the tired Motown covers, replaced with somewhat generic RnB tunes by arranger Monk Higgins and cohort Dee Ervin. Fans of Turrentine and RnB/jazz in general may want to get this album for the tunes on the second side, they’re ok, but Stanley has done better. The first side is mostly ignorable, there’s no rule that says that pop-jazz has to be this bland.

js Tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine spent most of his career mixing jazz with RnB on records that ranged from highly regarded soul jazz to outright pop and disco fluff. His 1971 release, “Sugar”, fortunately falls more in the former style than the latter and features some nice grooves for fans of the classic soul jazz sound. In a typical mix of styles from that period you get hard bop swing on the title track “Sugar”, jazzy proto funk on “Sunshine” and hard bop driven by groovy double time congas on “Impressions”. If you get the CD re-issue you also get a bonus live version of “Sugar” that rocks harder than the original and also breaks down into solo spots for superb performances by Freddie Hubbard and George Benson. All of the playing throughout this CD is excellent, and each track features lengthy solos that allow Turrentine and the others to really stretch out. The make or break for this album is its "CTI sound" which is a little more smooth in its extra reverb and compression than your more usual gritty sounding soul jazz outing. Whether this sound is cool 70s kitsch or just plain phony depends on your perspective.

Matt Those late night Jazz albums that are full of beautifully played ballads or a slowed down version of a more faster tempo number, that seem just perfect to hear late a night in the small hours of the morning are really not such an easy find because although you may think of many primarily late night sessions that might fit the mould they must have one neccesary major component for myself, being the Blues. This being the major reason that this album "Blue Hour" is one of the absolute stand-outs for after midnight spinning. Blue Note records has another two that do fit this high standard being Ike Quebec's, "Blue And Sentimental" and Grant Greens, "Idle Moments". This collaboration of Stanley Turrentine and The Three Sounds was suggested by Alfred Lion originally and is just as good if not better than Ike and Grant's albums. The material is all from the second session which was recorded in December 1960 with the first session recorded six months earlier. Alfred Lion really only wanted two more numbers during this 2nd session to use with the remaining material from the earlier session to make up an album but things hit that groove and "when you are hot, you are hot" which precisely what the musicians were when this session was recorded.

We are very early days in Stanley Turrnentine's career at Blue Note as he had only started with label earlier that year in April recording as a sideman with Dizzy Reece and by the end of the year come December he had appeared at Blue Note studio's counting close to double figures. Two of the albums that he appeared as a sideman in this time was on one of Blue Note's big sellers, Jimmy Smith's, "Back At The Chicken Shack" as well as his album debut on the label being "Look Out" within this 8 month time span. Stanley's early experience with Ray Charles has a major influence on his approach that he took for his playing within the album keeping that Blues grit but presented as stunning late night Jazz.

The Three Sounds being a trio are led by Gene Harris on piano and they had been selling a few at Blue Note as well for Alfred and Francis the owners when they first joined the label in 1958. In 1959 they had recorded a meeting with Lou Donaldson generating the album "LD+3" and although quite a good result was achieved with the album it is "Blue Hour" which is the far better album. The band is Stanley Turrentine on gruff tenor saxophone as that great gruff was always in his tone with also Gene Harris, tinkling piano, Andrew Simpkins, bass and Bill Dowdy doing a fair bit of brushing on drums.

Gene Harris leads the first composition on the album in, on piano being "I Want A Little Girl" with a slow rolling blues feel and throughout Gene remembers what he is playing being blues with passages within his playing being straight quick blues additions at times.Stanley's tenor not only has the great up and down volume but he does not over play with beautiful spacing and volume levels within his playing. The blues keeps coming by the bucketload with the following "Gee, Baby Ain't I Good To You" with Stanley coming in a lot earlier into this tune than the previous with superb spacing and not only from Stanley on tenor but the whole band is sublime. Gene Harris plays perfectly with his approach by using blues passages within his solos but still keeping it Jazz. There are three more tracks on the album with "Blue Riff" being the most sprightly at a mid-tempo but it does not detract from that late night feel and actually it is great to get away from the ballads giving the album a refesh if you like for the last two numbers with both being ballads. "Since I Fell For You" is more of that beautiful slow spaced approach taken to the album and runs for just under nine minutes with the last track actually not a ballad but played at at much slower tempo from its original form with a version that runs just short of ten glorious minutes being the standard "Willow Weep For Me".

One of the best out there for this style and one of my essential Jazz albums. You can get all the sessions together these days on a double cd with "Blue Hour" the actual album comprising the first disc with two numbers and an alt take from the 2nd session included with all the material from the first session on the 2nd disc. Hope that did not confuse you but "who was on first base?" as Abbot and Costello asked each other.

dreadpirateroberts On ‘Sugar’ Turrentine plays it smoother.

Too smooth? For me, it almost is. The album has a nice laid back feel, but it’s almost languid at times. The standard formula for many jazz albums, where solos are traded off between key players, is held to here, with the signature riff of the title track ‘Sugar’ revisited like bookends in the track. Turrentine’s first solo in the song is his most inspired, in what is probably the strongest cut on the record. Again, with much of CTI output from the early 1970s, the focus can be on ensemble playing and the impressive synergy between players and ‘Sugar’ is no different there, in that you have Hubbard, Benson and Carter as sidemen to name a few.

Soul Jazz is a nice genre for this album, as the focus is on that feel or sound, and Turrentine’s playing here is even sensual at times, perhaps no surprise considering the cover. ‘Sunshine Alley’ is a fair song, with a nice organ solo and some quintessential soloing from Hubbard toward the end, but doesn’t grab me. Perhaps the reasonably sedate, but by no means poor, drumming from Kaye adds to this feel.

‘Impressions’ is where things are kicked up a notch. You get more of a bop feel to Turrentine’s cover of the Coltrane song, and his soloing is more frenetic, the rest of the band feeding off this. Especially nice in this track is Carter’s bass, always solid but at times making his presence known by throwing in some interesting runs and flourishes.

Overall, it’s fine playing that offers a smooth, soul-inspired set of songs, with the standout ‘Sugar’ being the highpoint of an album that has no real flaws for me, save for being a little too smooth. While it doesn’t have strings of excessive overdubbing, the mood and playing doesn’t shift a lot between tracks and only the title track really stays with me. Three stars, a good album, with great playing, but not a favourite for me.

The reissue also includes a live cut of the title track, altering the line-up by adding Cobham on the kit and Hank Crawford on Alto, among others, and providing a harder, better version of the song.