Gilad
Hekselman avec le Saxophoniste Mark Turner au Vigan
Jazz
saxophonist Mark Turner is known for his intense, intellectual
musical style, as well as his deeply thoughtful approach to life.
Although he has been heralded by critics, some note that his music
may be too rarefied for the commercial market; he produced several
albums with Warner Bros, before losing his contract with that label
at the end of 2001. Since that time, he has continued to play and to
reassess his musical goals.
Turner
was born on November 10, 1965, in Fairbom, Ohio, but moved to Orange
County, California, with his family at the age of four. As a child,
he was equally interested in music and art and initially planned to
become an illustrator, although he began playing alto saxophone in
high school, and took up tenor saxophone two years later. Turner’s
parents were both music lovers and jazz fans, so he was exposed early
to recordings of some of the finest jazz musicians. The first
saxophone recordings he owned were by John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, and
Gene Ammons.
Turner
studied design and illustration at Long Beach State University, but
in 1987 transferred to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In a
biography on his agent’s website, Turner said, "Obviously the
mediums are different, in that music happens in the moment and art
doesn’t in the same way. But I see similarities in the creative
processes."
At
Berklee, Turner studied with noted saxophonists, including Billy
Pierce, Joe Viola, and George Garzone, and made connections with
other musicians who would eventually play on his albums. They
included guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, drummer Jorge Rossy,
saxophonists Joshua Redman, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, and Antonio
Hart, pianists Geoff Keezer and Anthony Won-sey, and bassist Dwayne
Burno.
In a
press release issued by his agent, Turner described this period:
"We’d play all the time… That thing of playing and
practicing, having a place to just play, and then go back and
practice, then have another session, the balance of those two is a
perfect circle. I was also around people who were doing things I
couldn’t do, people that I wanted to learn from."
In an
interview in Jazz Weekly, Turner told Fred Jung that during this
time, he particularly admired saxophonist John Coltrane because of
Coltrane’s philosophy that musicians should focus not on ego but on
"becoming a selfless musician and playing for more of a lofty
purpose." Turner told New York Times writer Ben
Ratliff that in school, he was completely absorbed in Coltrane’s
music, saying, "I was fairly methodical. I almost always wrote
out Coltrane’s solos, and I’d have a lot of notes on the side."
He knew at the time that he would not end up copying Coltrane, that
he would simply learn from him and move on to find his own sound. He
also noted, "I noticed that if you looked at someone
else
who was into Trane, and if you could listen through that person’s
ear and mind, it would be a slightly different version. That’s who
you are—it’s how you hear." After learning from Coltrane’s
work, Turner focused his meticulous study on the work of Joe
Henderson, Dexter Gordon, and Sonny Rollins.
In
1990 Turner moved to New York, where he met Warne Marsh, whose
playing of the tenor saxophone emphasized long, linear, melodic
improvisation, in contrast to the more aggressive sound of Turner’s
earlier inspirations. In addition to Marsh, Turner discovered the
music of Lester Young, whose style fell between these extremes. His
first album, Yam Yam, was released in 1994; his self-titled
second album, on the Warner Bros, label, included a mixture of
musical genres, combining what Ron Wynn in Weekly Wire called
"introspective unison exchanges with [saxophonist] Joshua Redman
… to lush, passionate statements." Wynn also noted that
pianist Edward Simon, bassist Christopher Thomas, and drummer Brian
Blade didn’t "simply sit back and accompany the leaders.
Constantly adjusting, prodding, and changing tempos, they help
prevent Turner from coasting or losing steam." His third
album, In This World, was also released by Warner Bros, in that
same year. Turner told Jung, "I feel relatively good about it. I
was happy with the way everyone performed on it." He viewed the
record as a continuation of what he had done on Mark Turner,
calling it "a nice progression."
In
2000 Turner released Ballad Session, a collection of pieces
composed by other musicians. Although he planned to feature his own
music on his next two albums, he told Jung, "I kind of wanted to
[perform other people’s music] for the last time for a while and
move on." In the Philadelphia City Paper, Nate Chinen wrote
that Turner’s 2001 albumDharma Days "both extends and
deepens the tenor saxophone’s distinctive oeuvre," and that
Turner "improvises with the same alluringly elusive quality that
distinguishes his compositions."
In
December of 2001, after four releases with Warner Bros., Turner’s
contract with the company expired and was not renewed. New York
Times writer Ben Ratliff noted that this was a shock, since
Turner’s "music is intellectual and rigorously composed,
defined by long, flowing, chromatically complex lines that keep their
stamina and intensity as they stay dynamically even." Ratliff
also praised Turner’s use of the difficult higher notes of the
tenor saxophone, noting that other musicians "can’t say a
negative word about him" and that they admire the freshness of
his music. However, Ratliff wrote, "In the end, Mr. Turner’s
music may have been too rigorous for Warner Bros, and he isn’t the
sort who might turn his music around to sell records."
A
representative of the company told Ratliff that Turner’s contract
wasn’t renewed because his records didn’t sell enough to satisfy
the company. "It’s fine," Turner said to Ratliff. "I
was considering trying to get out of [the contract] myself. Nothing
against Warner, but I feel relieved and open and free." By June
of 2002, though, Turner still had not had any calls from other record
labels. This was not surprising, Ratliff noted, since many labels had
cut or scaled back their jazz departments and moved into other kinds
of music. Even labels like Verve and Blue Note, formerly jazz
specialists, had begun emphasizing other musical genres.
In
addition to fronting a group, Turner enjoys being a sideman to other
musicians and told Ratliff that he wanted to be part of a cooperative
band that shared composing and publishing credits. This modesty and
self-effacement, Ratliff posited, might be why had trouble finding a
label, quoting saxophonist Donny Mc-Caslin: "His demeanor is
reserved, and his playing reflects that. He has an introspective
sound. Maybe people aren’t seeing what’s there." Bassist
Reid Anderson told Ratliff, "He uses harmonies that are the
language of harmony; he hears the melody within those harmonies….
He’s dealing on that high level that perhaps only the initiated can
appreciate."
Turner
lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife Helena Hansen, a
doctoral candidate in anthropology at Yale University, and their two
children. Turner, who is a Buddhist, told Jung that his introverted,
introspective personality helped him to focus on his music, saying,
"Silence and quiet time helps for that, at least for me, to
center myself, just to figure out what my priorities are." Of
his goals, he remarked that he wanted to "become a stronger
musician, composer, and all that. But even more than that, just to be
a giving, selfless person. Having a better understanding of the
meaning of living. That is my main goal."
Selected
discography
Yam
Yam, Criss Cross, 1994.
Mark
Turner, Warner Bros., 1997.
In
This World, Warner Bros., 1998.
Ballad
Session, Warner Bros., 2000.
Ballad
Session (with bonus track), WEA, 2000.
Dharma
Days, Warner Bros., 2001.
Sources
Periodicals
Guardian (London,
England), May 29, 1999.
New
York Times, June 16, 2002; July 2, 2002.
