Mark Turner
Mesa
Bo Brussels
She Said, She Said
As on his eponymous debut, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner takes his sophomore release into and beyond the territory that was once almost exclusively associated with the likes of pianist Lennie Tristano and alto saxist Lee K.
more »onitz. With fellow Warner Bros. artist Brad Mehldau on piano, Turner makes a compelling player of intricate cool melodies even while using them as launch-offs for more visceral solos. His playing has a short-phrase logic, favoring nuggetized turns and twists over elaborate technical displays. He nods to Tristano on Lennie s Groove, and sounds a tad like Warne Marsh when sporting the melody. Turner also cues up a touching Duke Pearson ballad, You Know I Care, but his take on the Beatles tune He Said, She Said smacks too much of a rote move. It doesn t lessen this otherwise solid confirmation that Turner is here to stay. Andrew Bartlett
The Nation, check out our latest issue.
Subscribe to
Support Progressive Journalism
The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today.
Did you know you can support
The Nation by drinking wine?
T
he United States vs. Billie Holiday starring Andra Day is the third film adaptation drawn from Holiday’s life story and the third that looks at Holiday through a prism of sensationalism, sordid or heroic, rather than as a groundbreaking musician who expanded and refined the possibilities of jazz.
Anna Yatskevich / Courtesy of Newvelle Records
Public acknowledgment took its time finding Billy Lester. A pianist devoted to searching for a new form of modern jazz, he spent more than half a century on the outskirts of New York City, quietly honing his craft. I just figured I d go to my grave without any kind of recognition, he says plainly, and I was at the point in my life where I totally accepted that.
The situation changed only a few years ago when Lester was in his early 70s. A chance encounter led to an acclaimed album on the boutique Newvelle record label, which he made with the impeccable rhythm team of Rufus Reid on bass and Matt Wilson on drums. And in the fall of 2019, this trio played two sets to a packed house at the Jazz Standard Lester s long-overdue debut in a New York City jazz club, and an absolute triumph at that.
WTJU Jan 19th, 2021 | By Russell Perry
Mark Turner Tenor player Mark Turner is one of the few prominent players who identify tenor player Warne Marsh as an influence. Marsh was a student of pianist/composer Lennie Tristano, whose compositional influence can also be heard in Turner’s work. Over the past 25 years, Turner has released a relatively small set of discs as […] Affiliated with. WTJU is owned and operated by the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia.
The opinions expressed by announcers or guests on WTJU are not necessarily the opinions of WTJU or the University of Virginia.