Turk Kincheloe

The Turk Kincheloe Quartet was a jazz ensemble. The band was led by a pianist, Stuart G. Kincheloe (born April 13, 1931), who at this time was going as Turk Kincheloe; his guitarist, bassist, and drummer have not been identified. Six tracks were laid down at his session in October. Two contrasting sides saw release on Vee-Jay 143, a tough record to find today. "Modern Trend," as the title suggested, was a fluent bop number featuring Kincheloe's piano. "The Cash Box" was squarely aimed at the jukebox market; Kincheloe played organ with one hand and piano with the other, on a blues with a whomping backbeat. Vee-Jay soon turned to Tommy Dean for this kind of material, but when the company's Abner subsidiary was revived in 1962, its first release in the 7000 series was a couple of R&B instrumentals probably intended for use as interludes on the radio. "The Cash Box" fit right in, even though it was 8 years older than the Bill Sheppard number it was paired with. Kincheloe accompanied The Dells on their "Oh What a Nite" session (May 1956) and recorded another jazz session for Vee-Jay in July 1956, this time as a member of Duke Groner's aggregation. By the early 1960s, he had changed his marquee name to Kirk Stuart and was still leading jazz combos in the Chicago area. By the mid-1960s he had relocated to Los Angeles. For years, Stuart led a trio that backed singers, notably Sarah Vaughan and Joe Williams, but he also worked as an arranger and in other jazz bands, notably that of Al Grey.