Shirley Scott: Legends of Acid Jazz: Shirley Scott

Douglas Payne

Contributor since 1999

Doug has produced CDs for such artists as Peter Thomas, Lalo Schifrin, Ennio Morricone and Cal Tjader.

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Published: June 1, 1998

Philly organist Shirley Scott and Pittsburgh tenor great Stanley Turrentine recorded one dozen times together between 1961 and1969 for the Prestige, Blue Note, Impulse and Atlantic labels. They were married to each other about the same time too. Legends of Acid Jazz: Shirley Scott combines two sessions from 1961: their very first together, Hip Shout, and their third, Hip Twist (Turrentine's Dearly Beloved, on which the organist was billed "Little Miss Cott," was their second).

Both these sessions are typical early-sixties Prestige soul-jazz outings. But it's a long stretch calling any of these 14 tunes "acid jazz." The stronger and most interesting of the two sets is certainly the first. Both Scott and Turrentine wail beautifully on the blues of Turrentine's "Hip Soul" and "Stanley's Time." Medium-tempo swingers like Benny Golson's "411 West" and Coltrane's "Trane's Blues" smolder nicely and the gets-really-interesting-as-it-goes "Out of This World" (especially during Scott's dynamic solo) is a surprising treat.

Perhaps matrimonial bliss added something to Turrentine's playing, but the tenor great always sounded much better and more inspired in Ms. Scott's company than he does on all those more famous Jimmy Smith sessions. He returns on his own light-bluesy "Hip Twist" and Ms. Scott's "Rippin' and Runnin." But, like the remaining blues tunes, there's a little less fire than before and Ms. Scott lays on more ballads here ("At Last," "The Very Thought Of You," and "That's All") which employ her devoted passion, but are more lounge-y and less interesting than her blues or faster tempos. So consider the last seven tracks a bonus to the first six songs – and you've got a winning soul-blues jazz set in Legends of Acid Jazz: Shirley Scott.

Tracks:Hip Soul; 411 West; By Myself; Trane's Blues; Stanley's Time; Out of Thos Worlds; Hip Twist; At Last; Rippin' an' Runnin'; The Very Thought of You; Violent Blues; That's All; All Tore Down.

Personnel: Shirley Scott: organ; Stanley Turrentine: tenor sax; Herb Lewis, George Tucker: bass; Roy Brooks, Otis Finch, Jr.: drums.

Record Label: Prestige Records
Style: Funk/Groove