1977 · Album
Nightwings
Recorded 1977 · Fantasy · Arranger and Conductor: Claus Ogerman
Turrentine Swims Through Ogerman's Lush Arrangements
A saxophone floating over orchestral swell—Turrentine in comfortable, spacious company.
Nightwings opens into something warm and expansive. You hear Stanley Turrentine's tenor saxophone riding over a full orchestra, strings and brass cushioning every phrase. The arrangements by Claus Ogerman are sophisticated but never cluttered—they give the music room to breathe. There's a ballad-heavy mood throughout, the kind of session where the orchestra doesn't compete with the horn but frames it, sometimes swells behind it, sometimes steps back. It feels deliberate and composed rather than improvisation-driven; this is Turrentine as a featured soloist within a larger sonic landscape, not leading a combo.
By 1977, Turrentine had already spent years in soul-jazz groups and as a sideman on stronger records. Nightwings places him in a different context—lush, orchestral, closer to the space-filling work that appealed to mainstream audiences of that era. It's a solid session, but not a peak one. The AllMusic review simply noted it as a "large group session for Fantasy," which captures both its scale and its straightforward nature. This isn't Turrentine reinventing himself; it's Turrentine as a reliable professional voice in a glossy setting.
It works as background listening and occasional deep focus both. The orchestra-plus-saxophone formula has enduring appeal, and Ogerman's arrangements are competent enough that nothing feels cheap or dated. For committed Turrentine fans, it's a curiosity—a glimpse of where his career stood in the late seventies. For casual listeners, the appeal depends on whether orchestral jazz that prioritizes mood over edge speaks to you at all.
Who's playing
Paul Faulisetrombone
Urbie Greentrombone
Dave Taylortrombone
Jerome AshbyFrench horn
Randy Breckerbrass
John ClarkFrench horn
Earl Gardnerbrass
Fred GriffenFrench horn
Al Rubinbrass
Lew Soloffbrass
Brooks TillotsonFrench horn
Joseph de AngelisFrench horn
Jim BuffingtonFrench horn
Don CorradoFrench horn
Where next?
More by Stanley Turrentine
All 64 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
