About

Stanley Turrentine’s 1966 album Easy Walker was right in the soulful tenor saxophonist’s sweet spot with Mr. T fronting a versatile quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Mickey Roker on drums. The engaging set featured hard-grooving numbers like the album opener “Meat Wave,” sultry ballads including “They All Say I’m The Biggest Fool,” the laid-back easy-swinging title track, and even an interpretation of a current pop hit with Turrentine’s sublime version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What The World Needs Now Is Love.”

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. — (via Label)

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With his compellingly gritty tenor sax tone tempered by an uplifting, gospel-soaked sweetness, Turrentine was snapped up by producer Alfred Lion at 26 in 1960 and quickly became a prolific recording artist for Blue Note.

The album captures Turrentine at a transitional point in his career, where he was beginning to freshen up his repertoire with interpretations of contemporary pop songs. Assisted by McCoy Tyner, who had just left Coltrane’s band and would soon join Turrentine at Blue Note, alongside Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker, the saxophonist navigates his way through a collection of bluesy infectious funk (‘Meatwave’), breathy R&B (a smouldering take on Buddy Johnson’s ballad ‘They All Say I’m The Biggest Fool’), swinging jazz standards (‘Alone Together’), and a soulful rendering of Jackie DeShannon’s 1965 pop hit, Bacharach and Hal David’s ‘What The World Needs Now Is Love.’ Combining melodic sophistication with an earthy, bluesy swagger, Turrentine offers fluid soloing throughout, ably supported by a simpatico rhythm section. — (via JazzWise)

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Easy Walker is a fairly standard but highly enjoyable small-group soul-jazz session from Stanley Turrentine. Backed by a rhythm section of pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Mickey Roker, and bassist Bob Cranshaw, Turrentine turns in a number of rich, round, and full-bodied leads which are perfectly complemented by Tyner's strutting, sympathetic piano. Largely divided between midtempo grooves and slow blues, with a couple of pop covers like "What the World Needs Now Is Love," thrown in, Easy Walker doesn't offer much challenging material, but it does let the musicians work a good groove, and occasionally showcase their improvisational skills, making it a good, relaxing soul-jazz session. — (via AllMusic)

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Meat Wave
A2 They All Say That I'm The Biggest Fool
A3 Yours Is My Heart Alone
B1 Easy Walker
B2 What The World Needs Now Is Love
B3 Alone Together

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Label: Blue Note
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, 180g
Reissued: 2026 / Originally Released: 1968
Genre: Jazz
Style: Hard Bop, Soul-Jazz

File under: Jazz - Blue Note
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