1975 · Album
Pieces of Dreams
Recorded 1975 · Fantasy Records · Arranger and Conductor: Gene Page
Turrentine Swings Through Hollywood Strings
Turrentine's take on Michel Legrand's title track became a standard, despite the album's uneven supporting material.
After years at Blue Note and CTI, Stanley Turrentine landed at Fantasy Records and brought in arranger-conductor Gene Page to build a lush orchestral frame around his tenor. Page's strings and horns were the point — not a rhythm section, but a full studio orchestra arranged for maximum shine. The centerpiece, Turrentine's reading of Michel Legrand's "Pieces of Dreams," justifies the whole session. He doesn't overplay it; the melody carries weight on its own, and his tone glides through with the kind of warm, slightly breathy quality that made him a crossover draw in the 1970s. Billboard ranked it the year's top jazz album, which tells you something about what the market wanted then.
The problem is everything else. The remaining six tracks drift into smooth-jazz territory that even Page's orchestrations can't salvage — pleasant enough if you hear them on a hotel speaker, but thin compared to the title track. Turrentine had proven he could swing hard in tighter settings, and here the sheer size of the arrangement sometimes works against him rather than for him. It's competent, well-played, and forgettable in equal measure.
This is not where to start with Turrentine. It's a side project, a label-debut that shows he could adapt to commercial arrangements but doesn't prove he needed to. The CD reissue added alternate takes of the same material, which only underlines how little novelty there is to find. "Pieces of Dreams" itself is worth hearing — it's the album's genuine moment — but the rest is filler dressed up in orchestral clothes.
Who's playing
Ron Brownbass
Ray Parker Jr.guitar
David T. Walkerguitar
Stanley Turrentinetenor saxophone
Gary Colemanpercussion
Joe Claytoncongas
Reginald “Sonny” Burkekeyboard
Ed Mooremembranophone
Gene Pagekeyboard
Ed Greenemembranophone
