Turrentine Shows the Value of Musical Individuality

Stanley Turrentine is a jazz original. Not as acknowledged or as influential as his slightly older contemporaries, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, he nonetheless possesses that most valuable of qualities, a uniquely individual musical identity.

Tuesday night, in the opening performance of a six-day run at the Jazz Bakery, the veteran tenor saxophonist revealed some of the appealing elements that have sustained his five-decade career as a prominent jazz artist.

There was, first of all, the infectious blues and gospel phrasing that slipped into virtually everything he played. In solo after solo--up-tempos and ballads--his phrases were dramatic examples of timing, alternately smooth and swinging, then suddenly erupting with energizing melodic shouts, the vigorously exhortations of a musical preacher.

There was also his perception of the connections between theme and variations. Turrentine, 64, comes from a generation of players who learned early on how to vary and interpret a melody without abandoning its original character. And on tunes such as “Sentimental Mood,” “Triste” and his own trademark “Sugar,” he made his improvisations more effective by subtly identifying their direct connections with the tunes’ melodies.

Turrentine’s performance was enhanced by the presence of a skilled group of accompanists. Guitarist Christopher Sholar, barely out of college, revealed the makings of a potentially first-rate jazz artist. Still a bit rough around the edges, he nonetheless was an effective companion for Turrentine, knocking out solos tinged with the influence of the saxophonist’s onetime associate Grant Green.

Pianist Kei Akagi, always impressive, played a particularly rhapsodic set, and James King, bass, and Jerry Jones, drums, laid down an irresistible foundation of swing.

At the heart of it all, Turrentine, a composed, confident artist, continually reminded us--in the midst of a jazz decade in which technique has often been more prominent than identity--of the great value of an individual musical personality.

BE THERE

The Stanley Turrentine Quintet at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday. 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $20 admission tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8:30 and 10 p.m., Sunday at 7 and 9 p.m.