Steve Turre's Sanctified Shells Band

Roy Strassman

Mr. Strassman has been a professional musician, bodyworker and writer for over a quarter century.

Recent articles (6 total)

Published: April 10, 2003

Much of the juice of Turre's music stems from his abilities both as an arranger and innovator. He effectively uses varied conch shell voicings—which can sound like chorded train-whistles hollowing the night air and rushing past graveyard thistles—blended with other horn combinations to produce his unique and otherworldly tonal excursions. Turre is able to simultaneously blow two conches, in keeping with the family tradition of his reedman brother, Michael, who can simultaneously, and to fine effect, play two reeds—ala "The Junkman" Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Faddis was his ever hard-blowin', upper-register, razzbad self. Trombonists Josh Roseman, Aaron Johnson, Stafford Hunter and reedman Dan Faulkner rounded out the horn section.

It must be said that there was a glaring and disturbing omission from the performance: given all that fine trombone power, coupled with a blazing Latin rhythm section, there were no monias! (I.e. two or more trombones soloing simultaneously over the rhythm section) — Hay que tocar la monia! — (You have to play monias!) All in all it was a performance well worth hearing, although the sauce would have been missing a key chile pepper without the presence of Abdu M'Boup.

Website: www.steveturre.com

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