Eric Alexander: Like Sugar

CELLAR MUSIC (RELEASED SEPTEMBER 10, 2025)

Putting Stanley Turrentine’s Sugar on the stereo in my record store back in the early 1970s would assure me of a sale. The music was accessible, soulful and intoxicating. Much the same can be said about Like Sugar, the newest release from tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. Rather than simply recreating Turrentine’s classic 1970 CTI date, Alexander and his band of David Hazeltine on piano, Dennis Carroll on bass and George Fludas on drums have captured the essence of Turrentine’s sound and spirit on Like Sugar. The connection to Turrentine’s Sugar is most evident on two tracks — “Jave,” which borrows the shout chorus from the tune “Sugar” and “Like Sugar,” which is based on the chord changes of “Sugar” with the band quoting the familiar melody line to close out the tune. The remaining tunes are more associated with Turrentine’s earlier career with Bluenote Records. An upbeat version of “Triste” is a tip of the hat to Turrentine’s love of Latin American music as is the bossa nova “Maria (BFFWSA). Although Turrentine never recorded “The Way We Were” or Hank Mobley’s “Early Morning Stroll,” Alexander had a feeling he would have loved adding those tunes to his repertoire. “Love Letters,” which Turrentine recorded on his Hustlin’ release with organist Shirley Scott in 1964, is played as tenderly and lovingly as the original version. Throughout the session, Alexander does an exemplary job of conjuring up the spirit of Turrentine’s tone and approach without merely copying it, and the trio of Hazeltine, Carroll and Fludas is just as tight and swinging as some of the best trios Turrentine worked with during his years at Bluenote. Despite the differences in instrumentation — Sugar, with its use of electric piano, organ, guitar, trumpet and percussion and Like Sugar, with its more conventional sax/piano/bass/drum format — the results are much the same. It is music that is accessible, soulful and intoxicating.

BOTTOM LINE: “Like Sugar” is what you would expect from saxophonist Eric Alexander, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer George Fludas — a hard-swinging and blues-infused tribute to tenor player Stanley Turrentine. However, this is no repertoire band simply copying Turrentine’s songs and arrangements, these are tunes inspired by Turrentine’s music as well as some that he probably would have enjoyed playing.