A Pair of Underrated Stanley Turrentine Blue Note Albums: Mr. Natural and Another Story

One of the greatest things about being a vinyl crate digger is finding hidden gems in the particular genre you have a passion for.

This pair of hidden 1960's gems from Stanley Turrentine are hard to complain about:  Mr Natural from 1964, but not released until 198o with those shoddy pseudo-hipster album covers; that paid no mind to the proud Blue Note/Reid Miles designs of the 50's and 60's.

 In fact, those covers I always thought were an embarrassment. The pictured Mr. Natural cover was the Japanese reissue on CD, which does a better job at living up to the Blue Note legacy in my opinion.

Accompanying Stanley on the album are Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, with Elvin Jones in the drum chair.

 Another Story was released in 1969, and features Thad Jones on flugelhorn, Cedar Walton on Piano, Mickey Roker on drums, and Buster Williams on bass.

Wayne Shorter's Night Dreamer 1964: His Blue Note Debut is One of His Best

The Thing that struck me about Wayne Shorter's music right away, was his unique ability to sound enigmatic.

For me it's like there is something in it that I can't always find the answer to. His music always seems to have a depth beyond the typical.

Coltrane is this way too, all the masters I suppose are, but Trane and perhaps Miles Davis are more earnest in their composing.

 Shorter is enigmatic at his core, as a writer and as musician, it adds something to his music, I like it.

You can hear a lot of this mysterious quality with his work with the Jazz Messengers, but Art Blakey probably tempered that a bit, at least any avant-garde leanings?

Those early Vee Jay sessions also seem to not quite be on par with this Blue Note debut Night Dreamer.

With Wayne or Tenor, pianist McCoy Tyner, trumpeter Lee Morgan, Bassist Reggie Workman, and Elvin Jones on drums it's hard to lose session.

If you consider Night Dreamer, and the rest of the Blue Notes during the mid 60's along side all the work with Miles Davis quintet, Miles Smiles and Nefertiti especially, you're talking about a monstrous force in jazz history. Really as of 2015, is there any doubt who the greatest living jazz composer is?

Night Dreamer is one of Wayne's best albums, and in my opinion underrated. I like it nearly as much as Speak No Evil and better than Ju Ju.

The Album still has a foot in hard bop, but barely. It is very much post bop and heavily modal. Wayne is also very muscular sounding at times and of course searching and yes, very enigmatic on the lower tempo numbers.

The title track begins with pianist Tyner and then the theme is stated. Right away we get a nice solo out of Wayne, inventive and robust. Lee Morgan is a nice change of pace on trumpet here, more bop oriented than say Freddie Hubbard, perhaps not as searching as Wayne, but the contrast is nice.

"Virgo" is a contemplative ballad. Admittedly reminds me of Coltrane quite a lot, "Naima" pops into my head, but you shouldn't confuse the two.  Dexter Gordon also clearly has influenced Wayne. You'll love the little solo outro on "Virgo".

"Armageddon" is my favorite on the album, it ebbs and flows and summons an ominous vibe. Finally after playing with you, Wayne rips into a nice solo, one of the best on the album. This track sort of sums up the entire album.

The rest the album, "Charcoal Blues", "Oriental Folk Song", "Black Nile" have the same mysterious quality as the highlighted tracks, the latter "Black Nile" being my favorite, Wayne stated that he wanted the track to sound like a river flowing. The album to my ears sounds like an unfolding story in 6 parts.

Original NY USA copies of Night Dreamer ain't cheap right now, in 2015, were talking two- hundred dollars for openers, going forward these are going to climb through the stratosphere.

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McCoy Tyner: The Real McCoy (1967)

Elvin Jones sits behind the drum kit on The Real McCoy,and as usual, his power shines through.

 I always liked Elvin's ride symbol work, he and Tony Williams were the best I think in that regard.

The real star here is tenor Saxophonist Joe Henderson, his muscular tone a perfect replacement for John Coltrane, and he does have a muscular tone that compare well without trying to sound like him. Henderson was his own man.

My favorite track is "Contemplation", a track that pianist Tyner said reminded him of a lonely man walking down the street. It's a fantastic track to meditate to as well, as I a sure the composer had in mind, it works. Henderson searches and searches his own mind, I don't know if ever found any deeper meaning, but I know I sure feel enriched by the album.

 Interestingly enough, I had a similar mood come upon me when I heard the tune for the first time. Henderson really shines on the track. "Search for Peace" is another Modal piece that stretches out on a reflective mood.

"Passion Dance" really has a hectic exotic rhythm, sort of reminds of a Thelonious Monk on amphetamines, a real upbeat piece, and a winner. "Blues on the Corner" is another Monk style piece, that is sort of a sped up"Blue Monk".