|
Soundclip:
|
| See Steve's Hand-Written Solo
Transcription |
|
Stanley Turrentine's solo on: "My Shining Hour"(Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer) As I am sitting here writing this, I have every intention that I will be able to post this great Stanley Turrentine transcription on or around April 1st, 2020, but, and it's a BIG one, with the Corona Virus making its impact felt globally, and certainly here now in New York City, I don't even know if I'll be able to go to my usual copy shop, and get the transcription reduced  so that it can be scanned into my computer. So, it's possible that I might end-up having to sit on this one for quite some time. Who knows? As it turned out, my worries were a bit overblown, and here we are, ready to present.As we have all been practicing social distancing, there is certainly plenty of time to do this kind of work at home. I hadn't even realized that the last time that I posted a Stanley Turrentine transcription was in November of 2015. It doesn't feel like it was really that long ago. But for me, that was 2 albums ago. Remarkable! Listening to Stanley Turrentine playing the tenor saxophone is always a constant state joy for me. It is never out of my thoughts that Stanley was one of Michael Brecker's favorite players, and every time I heard something like this, hearing him playing on the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer standard, "My Shining Hour," which appears on his 1961 album "DEARLY BELOVED"(Blue Note), it's so easy to see why Mike would have loved Stanley's playing: his beautiful sound, his unrelenting sense of swing, and the soulful and bluesy roots that are always present. His playing, to me, represents the simple joy of swinging. Not so easy to do - but if you can be in that place, who would not want to be there? On this album, Stanley is accompanied by Shirley Scott(Organ) and Billy Brooks(Drums). That's it, just the three of them. Perhaps using the album title of "DEARLY BELOVED" was an acknowledgment of the fact that during that same year, 1961, Stanley and Shirley would get married, a marriage that would last some 10 years, and would see her accompanying him on 6 albums of his own as a leader, and he would be a sideman for her on 8 of her albums as a leader. That's a pretty great working relationship, and kind of amazing for a couple of musicians to be able to do this and sustain a marriage for that long. When you are assessing the legacy of the Arlen-Mercer collaborations, you only have to think about these great songs: "Come Rain or Come Shine"; "That Old Black Magic"; "This Time the Dream's On Me"; "Blues in the Night"; "Out of this World" and "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive."  Add to that list, "My Shining Hour" which, like so many songs that have become Jazz standards, comes from a film. It appeared in the 1943 film, "THE SKY'S THE LIMIT" which starred Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie. Normally, most songs, standards fall into two categories of form. There is of course the most popular: A-A-B-A 32-bar form. And then, there is also, what I would label as the A-A' form, also 32 bars, but divided into 2 16-bar sections as opposed to 4 8-bar sections. However, "My Shining Hour" does not conveniently conform with either of those options, though it is still a 32-bar form. I suppose that one could try to label it as an A-B form with each section being 16-bars, but the 1st 8-bar section and last 8-bar section do seem and feel like an [A] and an [A3]. At bar 17, it certainly does feel like a true [B], or a bridge, but because bars 9-16 do not really sound like an [A2], this is what can cause the confusion.I know that I am repeating myself from a prior analysis, but, if you have ever read any of the interviews with Michael Brecker, where he lists his influences, the name of one particular saxophonist is also always present, even if many would not have placed his name alongside John Coltrane; Sonny Rollins; Wayne Shorter; and Joe Henderson, to name a few. To many, the name, Stanley Turrentine, is often associated with the label of "Soul Tenor Sax" or "Soul Jazz." There is really nothing wrong with that, but, it hardly captures the scope of the man's body of work. I suppose that I first became aware of Stanley Turrentine when I bought the 1963 recording, "MIDNIGHT BLUE" by the great, Kenny Burrell. During those years of discovery, for me, each LP led me to the work of others. That one great recording caused me to investigate a trio of LPs from 1960-1963 by organist, Jimmy Smith, which included: "BACK AT THE CHICKEN SHACK"; "MIDNIGHT SPECIAL"; and "PRAYER MEETIN'." All of these recordings hold up really well to this day. Because I too had been such a huge fan of Stanley's playing, his sound, feeling, and phrasing, etc., it becomes my pleasure to offer this solo to those who might appreciate it, and, of course, might learn and benefit from studying it. It is so hard for me to imagine that I presented his solo on "Love Letters" in 2009, now some 11 yrs. ago. And then, in 2015, I posted Stanley's "They Can't Take That Away from Me" solo. That is remarkable to me, I'm speaking of the passage of time. "My Shining Hour" holds its own special place amongst personal favorites, where songs from this time period are concerned, I still love the original film vocal by: Fred Astaire, and, of course, Nancy Wilson. As the son of a lyricist, the lyrics always resonate with me on some level: Calm and happy and bright And in my dreams, your face will flower Through the darkness of the night Like the lights of home, before me Or an angel, who's watching o'er me This will be my shining hour 'Til I'm with you again So, in the end, even when played at a typically bright tempo, it remains as another love song, telling its story. Before I begin, a word or two about the transcription itself. As I stated, as the tune is performed at a brisk tempo, I wrote it out in cut-time. Though written in concert key, it is written in the register of the guitar, and to those of you not familiar with that, the guitar is a transposing instrument, and is written one octave above where it actually sounds. For any tenor saxophonists visiting the page, this is in your register too, but obviously, a whole-step below where it would be written for you, and your Bb horn!!! Stanley and Shirley play the tune in C major. Hopefully this clears up any questions that you might have had. NOTE: I decided to try to scan in the full-size music paper sideways, which means that I have to have a TOP and BOTTOM for each page. Then, I had to put those two scans into Photoshop, and somehow try to seamlessly combine them into one page. By some miracle, my very modest Photoshop skills were just enough to accomplish this task, and, here I am able to present this transcription in a timely manner. It remains as one of the great traditions in Jazz, that being the solo break, usually 2 or 4 bars in length leading into the 1st chorus of a solo, and Stanley's solo here begins in just that manner. From Shirley's Cmaj7 chord on the downbeat, Stanley basically plays in C major with a touch of chromaticism for the 1st bar and then, one could say that the 2nd bar is approached as a ii-V, Dm7 to G7(alt.), and that shoots him right in the 1st chorus.  For me, the great Jazz-related touches are the phrasing mannerisms, or ornaments employed on beat 4 of bar 1, where you have a 16th-note triplet plus an 8th note. You will hear this particular mannerism throughout the solo, and along with others, they lend a certain character and swing to everything, while announcing that this great player is completely conversant in the linear traditions of the idiom. He is speaking the language! In bar 2 of the pick-up you have the inclusion of the #9-b9 (Bb-Ab) as he finds his way to a consonant resolution on the 3rd (E-natural) on the downbeat of bar 1 of Chorus 1. And off we go.....Chorus 1 begins with Stanley playing very diatonically in C major or C Ionian [C, D, E, F, G, A, B] and completely free of any chromatic touches, just pure percolation and swing. When he arrives at bar 8, and the Bm7b5-E7(alt.) chords, he plays a very traditional triplet vault up to G-natural, the #9 of E7, and then the same little triplet mannerism that was a part of his pick-up. This time touching upon the b9, F-natural, with all pulling towards a resolution to Am7 in bar 9. You could view bar 8 as Stanley ignoring the iim7b5 chord, and approaching the entire bar as E7(alt.). For that you would expect to see notes from either the E altered dominant scale or F melodic minor [E, F, G, G#/Ab, Bb, C, D]. In bar 9, over the aforementioned Am7 chord, but you could say that he is still hearing melodies in the overall key area of C major. However, the inclusion of G# in bar 9, as a lower neighbor to the root, is a crucial linear configuration element in Jazz. In bar 11, over Bm7b5, Stanley approaches this as D Dorian [D, E, F, G, A, B, C] before hitting the E7(alt.) chord in bar 12, which begins with the same arpeggiated vault that he used in bar 8 to get to both the #9-b9, which are used to create the tension to be resolved when the Am7 chord appears again. In bars 13-14, where you have Am7-D7, one bar each, here the usage of A Dorian [A, B, C, D, E, F#, G] seems more appropriate, and you do see him touch upon F# in bar 14. In bars 15-16, we have the ii-V of Dm7 to G7, which normally would see us arriving back to Cmaj7, but this becomes one of the little harmonic twists that makes "My Shining Hour" unique amongst standards. Over the Dm7, which would again see him using D Dorian, you now see/hear the usage of a C# as part of the same linear configuration that he played over Am7. All of this is headed to the G7 chord in bar 16, where he stays in D Dorian for the 1st 3 beats, but on beat 4, within that same triplet mannerism, a beautiful form of chromaticism enters as he passes through an Ab on his way to G-natural, which will become the root of Gm7, and the arrival of what I'm going to call for this presentation as letter [B]. As we hit the 2nd 16 bars of this great tune, we have a ii-V to F major, and Stanley approaches each chord individually as he plays through the Gm7 chord in bar 17 as G Dorian [G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F] with a touch of chromaticism, and a vaulting arpeggio to the C7(alt.) chord, where he plays through it touching upon G# which is the #5 of C7. What gives that note such a subtle impact is his phrasing, notice the long-short indications as this is one of the most crucial elements in the Jazz language. It seems like such a small detail, but without it, the sense of swing could well be lessened. Over the Fmaj7 chord, it is purely seen as playing in F major or F Ionian [F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E]. You will notice as you go through the entire solo that he never plays a Bb when this chord arrives. One could say that he has employed A minor pentatonic [A, C, D, E, G], which gives him all of the great color tones. In bar 20, he takes a nice breath, something that should be noted, because it is such a necessary element - something that should be heeded by guitarists! Breathing, space!!! As bar 21 arrives and Fm7 to Bb7 becomes the change, we have a key Stanley Turrentine note and moment. That high Eb you hear has a very particular tone and sound to it that is uniquely Stanley. I wish I was a tenor saxophonist, and could know exactly what is involved in the making of that kind of sound, but it is the essence of everything that embodies this kind of Jazz/Soul tenor sax playing. This same Eb will have more and more importance as the solo goes on. In bars 23-24, as we pass through the iii-VI-ii-V progression, 2 beats for each chord change, notice the 16-note triplet figures and the 8th-note triplet figures that go by so fast you might not even pay any attention to them - only because they are thrown out there with such casual aplomb that attention is not called to them. But these are again the kinds of Jazz-related phrasing elements that, if you did not hear them, you might wonder to yourself, "What's missing here?" Well, with Stanley Turrentine, NOTHING is missing!!! It's all right there! In bar 25, after he has resolved to Cmaj7, again he takes a nice breath, and while organist Shirley Scott is adding in Fm7-Bb7 in bar 26, Stanley ignores that change and ascends in C major [A-B-C-D], where he could have played in F Dorian [F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb], but he chose not to, thinking of the whole thing as being in C major. Again, over another iii-VI-ii-V progression, it is his swingin' phrasing that carries the day. For the last 4 bars of Chorus 1, though there is a ii-V back to Cmaj7, his great sense of the blues language grounds the piece in his most soulful stylings. Notice how he puts a little grease into those E-naturals (the 3rd) with D# as the lower neighbor. That little touch alone means so much. I also really love his usage of the Ab in bar 29 over the Dm7 chord. It's just there for a nano-second, but it's so effective. In Chorus 2, he begins with a very melodic sequence that is all very diatonic, and played through C major and all of the changes. In bar 4, there is another classic line configuration surrounding the 3rd (B-natural) of G7 and then, vaulting to another phrasing mannerism that puts to use #9-b9 passing back down to a G-natural as, again, the diatonic/melodic approach continues for another 3 bars. In bar 8, over the iim7b5-V, Bm7b5 to E7(alt.), he ignores the ii chord, and is playing as if it was all E7(alt.) with a leap from G#(3rd) up to an F-natural(b9) that is attacked with characteristic Stanley emotion in that register, and which carries him down to a C-natural on beat 1 of bar 9 and the Am7 chord. In this key, remember that Am7 is really the vi chord and would not be approached as a Dorian area. Notice how he avoids the note F-natural(4th) in his lines. In bar 11 as the Bm7b5 arrives, he lands on D-natural(m3rd) which defines the sonority perfectly - if simply. Over the E7(alt.) chord in bar 12, you have another traditional line configuration that highlights the b9(F) and the 3rd(G#), and concludes with the recurrence of the little 16th-note triplet grouping on beat 4. Bar 13 begins the Am7-D7-Dm7-G7 progression, one bar each, and here he uses arpeggios to spell out the chords, playing the 3rd of each of the 1st two on beat 1. The arpeggios continue over the Dm7 chord in bar 15, but in bar 16, over the G7 chord, you see him surround the 3rd(B-natural) with its chromatic upper and lower neighbors before gracefully landing on a G-natural to begin the next section. Notice that this note, G-natural, is preceded by its chromatic lower neighbor F#. It you had chosen to play F-natural, I don't believe that it would have sounded quite as good. Try playing that, and see if you can hear the difference. The 2nd 16, which I have chosen to call letter [B], after hitting the downbeat, Stanley takes a nice breath, and as he transitions through Gm7-C7 to Fmaj7, he is again using the very melodic notes drawn from A minor pentatonic. In bar 20, he again takes another breath. As the Fmaj7 turns to Fm7 to Bb7, he calls upon that same wonderful high Eb, playing the same 5-note phrase twice, with the 2nd-half falling on beat 4 of the first bar. After listening more closely, it sounds to me like that 2nd Eb should have a 2nd 8th-note with the Eb repeated, but with an alternate fingering indication (+), and that's what gives it that special sound and emotion. On beat 3 of bar 22, with that Eb being a quarter-note, he does the same inflection.  From there, through the iii-VI-ii-V progression for bars 23-24, he arpeggiates Em and then Ebm7 over the A7 chord, using his lines to descend chromatically down to Dm7, which receives the same treatment with the target note being to land on B-natural, the 3rd of G7 on beat 3. From there, the frequent device of vaulting up to the #9(Bb) to pass down to G-natural the 5th of Cmaj7. In bars 25-26, he returns to diatonic playing in C major with the rhythmic variety of a bit of double-time at this tempo in bar 26. This time through bar 27, Shirley Scott is really playing Em7b5, and Stanley employs another classic line configuration by using a simple G minor triad with the inclusion of an A-natural at the top and then passing through down to G-natural. All of this descending motion before vaulting upwards to the #9(C-natural) of A7(alt.), where he descends through a Bb minor triad. But as that triad relates to A7 you have Bb(b9)-F(#5) and Db(3rd). This kind of idea has been passed around amongst Jazz players for ages, and is just another expected part of the language. Without things like this? I don't believe that solos would sound nearly Jazzy enough! This sequence of minor triad arpeggios continues in bar 29, as this time, Shirley plays Dm7b5 instead of Dm7, and Stanley responds by descending through the expected F minor triad, with the Ab giving you the sound of the b5. Then, in bars 30-31, it's pure blues territory, as he plays the C blues scale [C, Eb, E, F, Gb, G, Bb] mostly in triplets, finally ending on the blue note of Eb, before giving himself a brief 2-beat rest.Chorus 3 begins as Stanley hits a high G-natural, which is the highest note that he will play during the entire solo, and like all of the other notes in this register for him, it is played with maximum force and soul. As he has done in the other choruses over this I-vi-ii-V set of changes, he is playing diatonically and very melodically in C major. Notice how over Cmaj7 to Am7, he avoids playing any F-naturals(4th/sus). When the Dm7 arrives in bar 3, the approach is more through arpeggios. Finally, on the last 2 beats of bar 4 and the G7(alt.) chord, he puts to use the b9-#9 combo to pull the line back to G-natural for the arrival of bar 5 and the next Cmaj7 chord. As he continues his melodic approach, one nice touch is that on the 4-and of bar 6, he anticipates the arrival of the Dm7 chord by playing F to D on that beat. Then, he rests for most of the bar before playing a pick-up to the bar of Bm7b5 to E7(alt.). This time, to these ears, he does observe the ii chord by playing both a high F and an E as well, before anticipating the arrival of the Am7 chord in bar 9. Pay attention to how skillfully he uses long-short phrasing. In bars 9-10, over the Am7 chord, he still seems to be using A minor pentatonic, but when going to the Bm7b5 chord in bar 11, you see/hear a B-natural which signals the arrival of the next chord. In bar 12, over the E7(alt.) chord, the key intervallic reference is to use both the b9(F) and 3rd(G#) [though I chose to spell it as an Ab]. Yet again, pay attention to the little 16th-note triplet phrasing on beat 4. You want to have this as a natural part of your own playing! Over the Am7-D7 in bars 13-14, you could say that Stanley is approaching playing over both bars and chords as A Dorian, it is worth noting that he inserts the lower neighbor of G#(maj7) during the D7 bar, which gives it a more Jazzy character. In bar 15, over the Dm7, you have a wonderful grouping of 8th-note triplets with lots of chromaticism. Then, on beat 1 of bar 16, he uses another classic phrasing mannerism: a grouping of an 8th-note and 2 16th-notes. You must have this phrasing technique in your arsenal as well. So pay attention to what I have pointed out in this chorus! Bar 16, concludes with another vault up to the #9(Bb), and then b9(Ab) as he heads towards the midway point of this chorus. As our letter [B] arrives with the ii-V to Fmaj7, we find Turrentine playing diatonically/melodically in F major. Notice that there are no accidentals, and he never plays a Bb. As Fm7 comes in bar 21, that old reliable high Eb opens the phrase that continues with notes from F Dorian - no accidentals need apply here. But, in bars 23-24 through the Em7b5-A7(alt.)-Dm7-G7(alt.) his usage of chromaticism is much more pronounced, but it is also deeply steeped in the linear traditions, the line shapes of the idiom. In bar 23, notice the leap from C#(3rd of A7) to C-natural(#9), which reappears in bar 24 on beat 3 going from B-natural up to Bb over G7(alt.). For phrasing, don't let the little D minor arpeggio grouping on beat 1 escape you! For the final 8 bars of this chorus, he begins over the Cmaj7 chord speaking a purely bluesy language. When Em7b5 appears in bar 27, though there are lots of theoretical ways to view how one approaches such chordal sonorities, as I see everything, more or less, in minor, G Dorian would be the choice, and all of his notes bear that out. Over the A7(alt.) in bar 28, he places the emphasis on C-natural(#9).  In bars 29-30, over the Dm7(sus)-G7 chords, it's back to the blues again. But, I view this as playing in that gray area, if one is thinking that we're really in the key of C major, somewhere between what is A minor pentatonic and the A blues scale [A C, C#, D, Eb, E, G], which is where that blue note of Eb would come into play. As the phrase finishes off, notice that wonderful 'honk' on the last Eb in bar 31 on the and-of-2.As Chorus 4 opens, Stanley is still in a bluesy place! The Bb's on beat 1 clearly tell us that. But, apart from that, his approach to the I-vi-ii-V remains very diatonically melodic. It is interesting to note the change in sound when, in bar 3, Shirley substitutes Fmaj7 for Dm7, it alters the impact of the A-natural that he plays on beat 1 of that bar. His high G-natural reappears on beat 3, and again to turn things around back to Cmaj7, on beats 3 & 4 of bar 4, he plays Bb(#9) and Ab(b9). But this time, instead of going down a 1/2-step to G, he vaults way up to his high G!!! What a great emotional touch! Bars 5-8 are played in a very diatonic fashion - no accidentals anywhere - all C major. In bar 8, over the Bm7b5 to E7(alt.), though it feels as though he is playing through each of those two chord changes, it is still really all in the area of E altered dominant, with the only accidental being the G#. As Am7 arrives in bar 9, this time, he plays through it in a more bluesy fashion using a G-natural as opposed to G#, the chromatic lower neighbor to the root - and the more Jazzy choice of notes. Over Bm7b5-E7(alt.) in bars 11-12, he uses a classic ii-V to im7(i) line that begins on the 4th of the overall target area of Am7, and descends to the 3rd(G#) of E7. On beat 3, that wonderful 8th-note/2 16th-notes phrasing mannerism appearing accentuating the b9 and #9 pushing the line down to C-natural, the 3rd of Am7. In bar 14, over the D7, Stanley augments the harmonic color palette by adding the b5(G#/Ab) to the sonority by ascending through a E triad (E-G#-B), and then landing on a B-natural and back down to that same G# - it does call some attention to that note, but he gets off of it pretty quickly. Some rhythmic variety shows itself in bar 15 with the triplet groupings over Dm7, and in bar 16, this time, over the G7(alt.) chord, notice how he is putting to use the b5(Db) and the #5(Eb/D#) within that now very familiar 16th-note triplet figure. The line closes out with a vault from B-natural up to Ab which brings us to Gm7 and the final 16 bars of the solo. In this final [B] section, "Mr. T." is playing through the ii-V to Fmaj7, hearing through it all as F major. The one alteration though is his usage of the Ab/G#(#5) over C7 which, if viewing it as a whole, could be considered a blue note from the F blues scale [F, Ab, A, Bb, B-natural, C, Eb]. That same Ab, or a 'ghost' of it, appears in bar 19 on his way down to F-natural. Rhythmically anticipating the arrival of the Fm7 chord in bar 21, he nails his favorite high Eb on the and-of-4, and then plays down the Fm7 arpeggio as in past choruses, this time on the upbeats. When the sequence of iii-VI-ii-V arrives in bars 23-24, he is descending, with his lines, using the chromatic changes: Em7-Ebm7-Dm7, instead of passing through A7(alt.), as would be the more traditional option. Back in Chorus 2 in the same spot, he unveiled this same device. To transition back to Cmaj7, the b9(Ab) and #9(Bb) serve their usual functions over the G7(alt.) chord. As this great and very swingin' solo winds down, Stanley is belting out the blues from his pick-up to bar 26, using his wonderful high Eb again, and he finds a way to land on the pivotal C# over the A7(alt.) chord. I love the flurry of triplets leading to A-natural on beat 4 of bar 28. As one would expect from this great artist, the last phrase is as bluesy as it gets, using the C blues scale over the ii-V-I, with a most greasy time feel where the blue notes (Gb-F-Eb) pass by on the way to a cadence. Over the turnaround ii-V in bar 32, he plays another nice device leading to one last vault up to Bb(#9)-Ab(b9) to land on beat 1 of what will be the 1st chorus of Shirley Scott's organ solo. Bravo Stanley Turrentine! In case some of you are wondering just who might have been some of Stanley Turrentine's earliest influences, I have read that his major influences included: Don Byas, Ben Webster, Illinois Jacquet, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins. And there are those who hear a lot of Ben Webster in his playing too. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of Stanley's first big gigs was playing in bluesman Lowell Fulson's band in 1953,  where he played alongside a most gifted young pianist/singer named, Ray Charles! He later went on to actually replace another musician of great destiny, an as yet unknown saxophonist named, John Coltrane in R&B saxophonist Earl Bostic's band. So now you have a bit of background information on this wonderful and most unique player.Now that the name John Coltrane has been mentioned, how could I not then say that it was 'Trane who also recorded "My Shining Hour" on his "COLTRANE JAZZ"(Atlantic) album in 1959, but it wasn't released until 1961. On that performance, he was accompanied by: Wynton Kelly(Piano), Paul Chambers(Bass) and Jimmy Cobb(Drums). On this version, he also plays 4 choruses, but his last chorus comes after Wynton Kelly's solo. It goes without saying that this version of the tune is always considered the gold standard by which all others must be judged. It is still fascinating to listen to Jazz, as it was recorded back then, and to hear the drums panned to the right side, and 'Trane, as he did, living on the left side of the mix. As fans, as listeners, we often enjoyed all of these great, great albums without really thinking about this aspect. To present at Korner 1 another great solo by Stanley Turrentine remains as something most special for me. As I had stated originally, anytime one tries to write out the solo of a player deeply steeped in the traditions of the blues, it is going to be difficult, because of the loose and elastic nature of the phrases that are so tied to this rich area of the sub-genre. As this site is mostly frequented by guitarists, it is so important that those of you, who fall into that category, try to take advantage of all that this wonderful tenor sax player, and this great solo have to offer. The guitar can never sound like the tenor sax, but there is no reason why one could not place that 'sound' deep within, internalized, and then have that kind of body appear in their own tone. The other aspect which could surely be emulated would be Stanley's incredibly swingin' phrasing, and his time feel. If it needs to be restated, don't ever forget that Michael Brecker always listed Stanley Turrentine amongst his most profound influences!! 'Nuff said!!! Enjoy this one to the fullest! One might wonder about the title of this particular album, "DEARLY BELOVED." And, whatever I might say here is to be taken as pure speculation, because I don't know the true story as to why Stanley and Blue Note Records chose this as the album's title. Of course, the tune, "Dearly Beloved" appears on the album. Who composed this tune? Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer - of course! Using the bare bones version, the title, of course, comes from the traditional wedding vows, which always begin: And, as I mentioned earlier as part of the story, Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott were married during the same year, 1961, that this album was recorded, so it would seem that having a wedding-related album title would be more than appropriate. I wish that I could see the late and great Ira Gitler's liner notes for the album, because there might well be something contained within that addresses this very issue. But alas, I no longer have the LP and I don't have the CD. Oh, I must mention that my all-time favorite version of "Dearly Beloved" is by none other than the great, great Wes Montgomery from his album, "BOSS GUITAR" which features: Mel Rhyne(Organ) and Jimmy Cobb(Drums)! During these very, very troubled and dangerous times for the health of everyone all over this planet, I can't close without wishing everyone, who might be reading this, my sincere wish that you are all staying safe and following the best health guidelines possible. One way or another, we will all come out of this at some point in time down the road. Let's hope that it will be sooner rather than later. Thanks again to everyone for their wonderful messages via the CONTACT STEVE page, as well as the supportive comments that appear in our GUESTBOOK.
[Photos of Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott
by: Francis Wolff] |