Turn It On!

Last updated
Turn It On!
Turn It On!.jpg
Studio album by
Released1971
RecordedJanuary 4, 1971
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre Jazz
Length37:32
Label Prestige
PR-10012
Producer Bob Porter
Sonny Stitt chronology
Night Letter
(1969)
Turn It On!
(1971)
You Talk That Talk!
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Turn It On! is an album by saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded in 1971 and released on the Prestige label. [3] The album features Stitt using the varitone, an electronic amplification device which altered the saxophone's sound. [4]

Contents

Reception

Allmusic reviewed the album stating "Stitt uses an electrical device (a Varitone) on his tenor that waters down his tone a bit. With organist Leon Spencer, guitarist Melvin Sparks and drummer Idris Muhammad setting down unrelenting grooves on most of the five numbers (including the 11-minute title cut), Stitt only seems to be making cameo appearances". [5]

Track listing

All compositions by Leon Spencer except where noted

  1. "Turn It On" - 11:10
  2. "The Bar-B-Que Man" - 7:59
  3. "Miss Riverside" - 9:28
  4. "Cry Me a River" (Arthur Hamilton) - 3:54
  5. "There Are Such Things" (Stanley Adams, Abel Baer, George W. Meyer) - 4:01

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Sonny Stitt Musical artist

Edward Hammond Boatner Jr., known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording more than 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern because of his relentless touring and devotion to jazz yet rarely worked with the same musicians for long. Stitt was sometimes viewed as a Charlie Parker mimic, especially earlier in his career, but gradually came to develop his own sound and style, particularly when performing on tenor saxophone.

Leon Spencer was an American jazz organist from Houston, Texas. He played piano with David Newman and organ with Melvin Sparks. Spencer recorded for Prestige in the early 1970s with Buddy Caldwell, Idris Muhammad, Melvin Sparks, and Grover Washington Jr.

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<i>Sneak Preview!</i> 1971 studio album by Leon Spencer, Jr.

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References

  1. Turn It On! Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013
  2. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 185. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
  3. Prestige Records Discography accessed January 9, 2013
  4. Myers, M. Sonny Stitt: Varitone Redux, All About Jazz , December 20, 2011
  5. Yanow, S. Allmusic Review, accessed January 9, 2013