Stanley Turrentine – Mr. Natural

Great session, side A is as strong as it gets. Not seeing many comments on the hand percussion, but Ray Barretto's placement in the mix is excellent and the separation is outstanding. My copy is not quite "as flat as glass" but doesn't create any issue while listening. Oddly, this is the only Tone Poet where the jacket is slightly oversized and does not fit into the Clear Bags BLP1 mylar sleeves that house the rest of the collection. A small nit, but triggers my OCD nonetheless. Don't judge me, lol.

This is a particularly good sounding Tone Poet release. Great songs, and well recorded. There’s a certain grip that this one has, that other albums don’t.

My copy sounds terrific! Agree with the other comments: Side A is fantastic. And wow: Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Lee Morgan...this session was stacked. Edit: I gave this album four stars because side B isn't quite as thrilling. I wish they had recorded something original rather than a Beatles cover. Just my personal preference, of course.

Have a friend who said they experienced really bad distortion pretty much from the beginning so was kinda dreading spinning this one but it sounds amazing to my ears, no distortion. Had a couple of pops but luckily in between tracks

Don’t let these negative reviews below slow you down from picking up a copy of the home run of a pressing from Blue Note. My Grado Sonata through a decent Class A amp picks up no distortion some talk about.
I must have a dozen of these Tone Poets and this sounds as good or better than most. Wonderful music as well. 😎

3rd time lucky after one copy came with ruined seems and the secone came with a deep cut on the surface. No idea what the complaints are below. Maybe a less explicit system would be better for him or try a second copy. I love the music and the pressing and although it took a 3rd copy to find a keeper im glad i persisted!

What a WONDERFUL way to get into Mr Turrentine(and hard bop jazz!)via "Mr Natural" if you haven`t already,it`s a Great line up of some of the best jazz musicians that recorded together.
This tone poet release is FIRE with ALL five tracks very accessible for all audiophiles and music lovers alike.
My copy is well centered noise free with no warps so flat as glass,the mastering by Kevin Gray is once again STELLA.
Highly recommended and you may get lucky & see it for under £30 if you do buy lt, you`ll love it sooner(probably)rather than later - five stars *****

Vinyl front-end:
Rega P3:RB880 tonearm
Cartridge:Goldring G1042
Phono Stage:Whest Audio TWO.2

Music: 5.0 (Outstanding)
Mastering/pressing: 5.0

Inner sleeves:4.0 plain white anti-static,should be the minimum sleeve sold with modern vinyl records!
Cover:4.0 the usual tone poet gatefold standard with all the info printed on it and the session photos too.

Fantastic release. Impeccable Tone Poet quality sound. Can't Buy Me Love is super fun and very interestingly arranged.

When I saw this one coming, I thought "Oh no, another Stanley Turrentine album". Don't get me wrong, I have 4 of the 5 Stanley Turrentine Tone Poet releases and I like them all (although not as much as most of the others). I understand that there are people that like him a lot but, honestly, this is the artist that they have reissued the most and I wish we had a bit more variety. For instance, it would be great to see a tone poet of Larry Young, Elvin Jones, Grachan Moncur III, Kenny Dorham, Cecil Taylor, Tony Williams, Don Cherry, or the great Sonny Rollins. That being said, this is my favorite Stanley Turrentine album (particularly the side A). The reissue is gorgeous, with huge dynamics, soundstage, and a beautiful cover design. My copy came completely flawless.

Wonderful album and excellent pressing. Nice stereo placement. Super wide and deep. Very dynamic and detailed. A really nice listening experience. This may be my favorite Stanley Turrentine session of all. Great job by BN and KG!