7. Stanley Turrentine: Up at “Minton’s” (Blue Note, 1961)
Turrentine’s name is synonymous with a certain kind of music—really the conduit between hard bop and soul jazz. (In fairness, he did cross over into soul jazz during the ’70s, but that’s not his best-known work.) This double live recording is a solid example. Turrentine’s tenor sound has the consistency of earthenware: thick and gritty. It serves him well both up-tempo (“Stanley’s Time”) and down (“Later at Minton’s”). The rhythm section (pianist Horace Parlan, bassist George Tucker, drummer Al Harewood) grooves like mad; any soloist would want the guys who shift between clave and swing on “Love for Sale” with them on a desert island. The secret weapon of Up at “Minton’s,” though, is guitarist Grant Green, whose stinging guitar lines on “Broadway” and “Come Rain or Come Shine” seem to have been marinating in the blues for the sake of this one night’s gig.

Find Up at “Minton’s” on Amazon and Apple Music.