JAZZ REVIEW : Turrentine Upstaged

Hand it to Stanley Turrentine. The big guy’s got courage. Taking the stage at Smokey’s in Mission Valley on Thursday night near the end of a three-week West Coast tour, the tenor saxophonist was outplayed by his band mates, especially keyboardist and former Miles Davis sideman Kei Akagi.

Yet, whether he was bored or just generous, Turrentine, a broad-chested 57-year-old bear of a man with a similar-sized sax sound, took the evening in stride. Running down several of his hits from the 1970s, when Turrentine and Grover Washington Jr. were kings of the romantic funk-jazz saxophone, Turrentine yielded ample solo time to his ferociously talented sidemen: Akagi, guitarist Dave Stryker, electric bassist Jeff Littleton and drummer Mark Johnson.

Although Turrentine is nowhere near as popular as he was in the 1970s, he retains a core following. Fans approached his table before his set to shake his hand or ask for autographs.

On stage, Turrentine made light of his lower-profile career, joking about George Bush and the recession, referring to his multiethnic road band as a “rainbow coalition” that might offer a better brand of politics. He also plugged his albums--he wants to send his kids to college, he said.

Turrentine resists stylistic classifications. “I’m sick and tired of those categories,” he said before the show. “I’m dedicated to music.”

Yet his music has taken a decidedly different direction since his 1970s commercial prime, when such Turrentine hits as “Pieces of Dreams,” “Sugar” and “Don’t Mess With Mr. T” were wrapped in a sticky sweet confection of strings and horn sections.

Turrentine’s new recording, due next year, strips away the icing to get at the man and his horn. It’s a straight-ahead acoustic jazz album featuring pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Higgins.

And, Thursday night, Turrentine took a similar streamlined tack, and his band carried his light, early material into a new land of cerebral improvisation.

From the first few bars of “Terrible T,” Turrentine’s buttery tenor oozed invitingly through several mostly romantic numbers.

In a sense, Turrentine is the tenor sax equivalent of singer Marvin Gaye (who wrote “Don’t Mess with Mr. T” especially for Turrentine). Turrentine doesn’t like showy displays of technique, although he can hold his own on up-tempo numbers. Instead, he prefers emotion, and he can make women “ooh” and “aah” with just a few carefully placed notes.

Turrentine followed the bluesy “Terrible T” with the George Benson tune “Plum,” and Turrentine’s solo summed up what he’s all about: It was warm, melodic and sexy. It told a story with a beginning, middle and end, with the song’s signature melody flitting elusively through Turrentine’s improvised lines.

Brazilian singer-composer Milton Nascimento’s “Salt Song” came next, opening with a thunderous avalanche from Johnson’s drums before the tempo down-shifted and Turrentine came in with the song’s inviting melody. Moments later, the pace picked up again following a short Turrentine solo, and Akagi and Stryker took long, searing solo turns.

The swinging “Sugar” included two more long, fiery solos by Stryker and Akagi, whose light, fleeting touch on electric piano made you wish for the warmer, fuller sound of an acoustic piano.

After nearly 20 years of replaying his hits, Turrentine claims he isn’t bored.

“I’m pretty lucky,” he said before the show. “Most of the things I recorded were popular, and I like to play them.”

His manner on stage, however, gave a different message. Turrentine looked bored, watching his sidemen take the risks while he stood in the shadows.