Wednesday, November 22, 2017

An overlooked cover tune XLII

Sometimes, it's challenging for an instrumentalist to cover a song whose lyrics are its main appeal.  Stanley Turrentine pulled this off, however, in his cover of David Soul's "Don't Give Up On Us."  Soul topped the charts with the ballad in early 1977.  Turrentine released his version later that year, proving that a tenor sax could pull off the tune's feel as gracefully as a vocalist.  I've never heard any radio station play it, but it would fit easily into a traditional or smooth jazz playlist.