Stanley Turrentine feat. Sonny Clark – Jubilee Shout (recorded October 18, 1962)

This superb soul-jazz jam remained unreleased until 1978, and featured unsung pianist Sonny Clark on his last-ever recorded date before his tragic death at age 31.

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On October 18, 1962, Sonny Clark was at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey playing piano on a session led by Stanley Turrentine.

The tracks recorded that day, including the superb soul-jazz jam “Jubilee Shout,” remained unreleased until 1978, when they were first issued on the double album Jubilee Shouts on Blue Note.

Besides Turrentine on tenor sax and Clark on piano, the rest of the lineup included Kenny Burrell on guitar, bassist Butch Warren, Al Harewood on drums, and Turrentine’s older brother Tommy on trumpet. In 1986, the album was reissued as Jubilee Shout!!! with what was intended to be its original Blue Note cover art.

Other highlights from the session were “Brother Tom,” written by Turrentine, and the uptempo “You Said It,” written by Tommy Turrentine. The question remains why the album was shelved at the time, but owing to the sheer number of great sessions recorded for Blue Note during the early sixties, many were not issued until years later. One theory is that the session’s producer Alfred Lion (the co-founder of Blue Note) thought the ten-minute title track was too long.

Sadly, this was Sonny Clark’s last-ever recorded date before his tragic death on January 13, 1963 from a heroin overdose. He was only 31.

Further info:

“The Lost Footage of Pianist Sonny Clark,” by Aaron Gilbreath, Michigan Quarterly Review, 2016.

“Stanley Turrentine Jubilee Shout!!! (Blue Note 1962/86),” Flophouse Magazine, January 26, 2017.

#jazz #soul #StanleyTurrentine #SonnyClark