1967 · Album
Return of the Prodigal Son
Recorded 1967 · Blue Note · Arranger: Duke Pearson
Duke Pearson's Charts for a Wandering Saxophonist
Turrentine reaches for modern material with real conviction, backed by arrangements that give him room to breathe.
Duke Pearson's arrangements are what make this record work. Turrentine had spent years in organ trios and soul-jazz settings, comfortable grooves where a saxophonist could wail and the pocket never shifted. By 1967, Blue Note was pushing him toward something different — pop standards and contemporary compositions — and Pearson's charts gave those songs structure without suffocating them. The arrangements sit somewhere between straight bebop and the funkier soul-jazz Turrentine knew, which is exactly the middle ground he needed.
The two sessions here show Turrentine willing to engage with material beyond his usual wheelhouse. He's still the same warm, soulful player, but there's a reaching quality to his solos, a sense that he's testing himself against fresher harmonic territory. The rhythm section — anchored by McCoy Tyner — holds steady and swings without strain. Nastos at AllMusic heard this correctly: it's a record that finds Turrentine "interested in and capable of tackling more modern compositions," and the success that would follow late in the decade makes clear that this experiment paid off.
This is mid-career work, not a masterpiece, but useful and earnest. If you know Turrentine mainly from his organ-combo days, this shows a different side — still soulful, still grounded, but willing to stretch. It's the sound of a musician and arranger figuring something out together in real time.
Who's playing
Bob Cranshawdouble bass
McCoy Tynerpiano
Joe Farrellflute, tenor saxophone
Mario Riverabaritone saxophone
Stanley Turrentinetenor saxophone
Joe Shepleytrumpet
Marvin Stammtrumpet
Garnett Browntrombone
Julian Priestertrombone
Duke Pearsonorgan
Ray Lucasdrums
Al Gibbonswoodwind
Where next?
More by Stanley Turrentine
All 64 albums →
The musicians on this record
The Real McCoy 1967
McCoy Tyner
plays piano here
plays piano here
The Phantom 1968
Duke Pearson
plays organ here
plays organ here
Masters From Different Worlds 1994
Julian Priester
plays trombone here
plays trombone here
