Jazz Articles about Mark Turner

Mark Turner: Dharma Days

by David Adler
June 1, 2001

It took four Warner Bros. albums for Mark Turner to nail down his prodigiously advanced concept and find a dream band to help him do it. Dharma Days is the studio debut of Turner’s regular working quartet, with Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar, Reid Anderson on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums. This is a live band to the core, as was evident during its triumphant return to the Village Vanguard stage in late May, timed to coincide with the album ...

Mark Turner: Dharma Days

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 1, 2001

Jazz has its share of famous duos; names that just seem to go together. For example, let’s consider Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Johnny Griffin, Elvin Jones and John Coltrane, and the list goes on and on. Now we can add to this unofficial inventory the names of tenor saxophonist Mark Turner and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. These two go way back, from Mark’s first record as a leader ( Yam Yam ...

Mark Turner/Tad Shull: Two Tenor Ballads

by C. Andrew Hovan
November 1, 2000

The two tenor battle is not a new idea, with predecessors ranging from Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray to Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Johnny Griffin. However, what we have here is not so much a competition but a complimentary pairing that makes the most of the individualistic styles of Mark Turner (a distinguished disciple of Lester Young and Warne Marsh) and Tad Shull (straight out of the Webster/Hawkins school of deep-throated tenors). It’s the contrast that makes for provocative listening, ...

Mark Turner: Ballad Session

by Mike Neely
July 1, 2000

Mark Turner’s Ballad Session presents a tenor saxophonist of extraordinary poise and emotional attunement. Throughout this recording Turner deftly maintains his balance, avoiding sentimentality, presenting a consistently direct emotional response to the compositions and to his fellow musicians. This disc reveals Mark Turner to be a young musician to watch carefully.

Pianist Kevin Hays is an especially attentive accompanist whose solos add to the emotional focus of this recording. Bassist Larry Grenadier plays a spare, loping bass that allows plenty ...

M.T.B.: MTB - Consenting Adults

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 1, 2000

One has to wonder why it took over five years for this 1994 recording to make its debut. Certainly the quality is up to Criss Cross standards and the spirit of the session is unquestionably robust. Still, now that Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner, and Peter Bernstein (the first letters of their last names gives us M.T.B.) have become more established artists, this peek at an earlier effort is sure to initiate some lively discussion. In the cases of Turner and ...

Mark Turner: Ballad Session

by David Adler
March 1, 2000

This collection is beautiful, but it offers a fairly limited view of Mark Turner’s staggering talents. Of course, hearing him, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, and pianist Kevin Hays play ballads is a great pleasure. Sensitive support from bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Brian Blade only makes it better. But the all-ballad format seems a little constrained, especially compared to the spellbinding original music Turner has been playing live lately.The repertoire for Ballad Session is quite well chosen, however. Instead ...

Mark Turner: Ballad Session

by Mark Corroto
March 1, 2000

When I was a young man, my father would describe a particular jazz recording as being “sexy.” To a testosterone-enriched lad, Stan Getz’s music wasn’t exactly what I would call sexy. As one ages, what one finds sensual becomes more cerebral. Tenor saxophonist Mark Turner’s offering of ten ballads is that grown-up kind of sexy. This is his fourth release as a leader, two previous Warner Bros. and one on Criss Cross Jazz; all are worth going back and listening ...