STANLEY TURRENTINE - Look of Love (1968-2014) RM / BLUE NOTE MASTERWORKS / SHM-CD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

With its mix of pop covers and jazz material, The Look of Love could be considered a typical Turrentine album from the late '60s. What sets this and a few other of his Blue Note titles apart, though, are the full yet tasteful string and band arrangements by jazz flügelhorn player and composer Thad Jones. With his flexible phrasing and muscular tone, Turrentine dives into the lush arrangements, especially on the sweeping rendition of Burt Bacharach's "Look of Love." Other pop selections bring mixed results: The plodding arrangement on "McArthur Park" garners a lukewarm response from Turrentine, while the tender settings for "Emily" and another Bacharach number, "This Guy's in Love With You," elicit the kind of velvety vaporous tone and sincere romantic phrasing Turrentine usually killed with on ballads. More upbeat, straight-ahead material like "A Beautiful Friendship" and the blues swinger "Blues for Stan" keep the date well balanced and set the table for some masterful Turrentine solos. Again, special mention should be made of Thad Jones who, along with Oliver Nelson (Nancy Wilson's Welcome to My Love in particular) and Duke Pearson, supplanted the usual syrupy arrangements found on "cross-over" dates with intelligent, complimentary charts. Turrentine certainly appreciated it, as evidenced by his strong work here. Purists who usually cringe at late-'60s jazz dates like this (yes, there is a Beatles cover here) might be pleasantly surprised. For those who feel Bacharach and Jimmy Webb provide fine material for jazz, then The Look of Love is a must. by Stephen Cook  
Tracklist:.
1 The Look of Love 4:25
Burt Bacharach / Hal David
2 Here, There and Everywhere 3:35
John Lennon / Paul McCartney
3 A Beautiful Friendship 3:18
Donald Kahn / Stanley Styne
4 Blues for Stan 5:55
Stanley Turrentine
5 This Guy's in Love With You 2:34
Burt Bacharach / Hal David
6 MacArthur Park 4:39
Jimmy Webb
7 I'm Always Drunk in San Francisco 2:22
Tommy Wolf
8 Emily 3:20
Johnny Mandel / Johnny Mercer
9 Cabin in the Sky 3:40
Vernon Duke / John La Touche
10 Smile 4:05
Charlie Chaplin 
Credits:
Arranged By – Duke Pearson, Thad Jones
Bass – George Duvivier
Bass Trombone – Benny Powell
Drums – Grady Tate (tracks: 1, 3 to 5, 7, 8, 10), Mickey Roker (tracks: 2, 6, 9)
Flugelhorn – Jimmy Nottingham, Snooky Young
French Horn – Jim Buffington
Guitar – Kenny Burrell (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 10)
Piano – Duke Pearson (tracks: 1), Hank Jones (tracks: 3 to 5, 7, 8, 10), Roland Hanna (tracks: 2, 6, 9)
Producer – Duke Pearson
Tenor Saxophone – Stanley Turrentine