1961 · Album
Up at “Minton’s”
Recorded February 23, 1961 · Blue Note · Personnel: Stanley Turrentine (tenor saxophone), Grant Green (guitar), Horace Parlan (piano), George Tucker (bass), Al Harewood (drums)
Soul and Standards at Minton's Playhouse
Turrentine's soulful tenor captured live, early in his recording career, playing familiar standards with unhurried ease.
Up at Minton's arrived early in Stanley Turrentine's recording life, a live snapshot that shows what he was already capable of doing before he became a household name. This wasn't his debut—he'd made other records by 1961—but it's an honest picture of him in a working band, playing the room where bebop was born, with no studio trickery or overdubs to hide behind. The quintet is lean and practical: Grant Green on guitar, Horace Parlan on piano, George Tucker on bass, and Al Harewood on drums. It's a rhythm section built for swing, and they swing.
The repertoire is straightforward—standards and blues, nothing fancy—and that's the whole point. Turrentine had a thick, singing tone that could handle a ballad or a medium groove with equal warmth, and here you hear him doing both without strain. He's not trying to dazzle you. Scott Yanow's AllMusic review noted that the album gave listeners "a definitive look at the soulful Mr. T. near the beginning of his productive musical life," and that's accurate. This isn't Turrentine perfected or at his commercial peak; it's Turrentine as a working musician, comfortable in a club, playing what the audience and the moment asked for.
The Penguin Guide gave it 3.5 out of 4, which is fair—solid playing, nothing wasted, nothing forced. It's the sound of someone who knew exactly what he could do and saw no reason to oversell it. If you want to hear why Turrentine became so durable and respected, you could do worse than starting here.
Who's playing
George Tuckerbass
Horace Parlanpiano
Grant Greenguitar
Stanley Turrentinetenor saxophone
Al Harewoodmembranophone
Where next?
More by Stanley Turrentine
All 64 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
