From all appearances, tenorist Mark Turner is an extremely thoughtful and cerebral player with a sense of yearning, an almost questioning tone, and a pen prone to sensitivity and quest. Far from the rollicking post-Coltrane tenor mode, Turner is almost calculating in his logic, balanced with a curious sense of freedom. Though the program is dominated by his originals, some of its more rewarding moments are in service to the music of others. Take his version of Duke Pearson’s “If You Know I Care.” It opens with a tenor cadenza, then blossoms into a lovely essay.
Tune to tune, Turner varies his textures, eliciting pianist Brad Mehldau’s electric piano on three tracks, adding Kurt Rosenwinkel’s bright and inquisitive guitar on three, and broadening the drum sound by adding Jorge Rossy to the estimable Brian Blade on two pieces. The only thing played fairly straight is “Days of Wine and Roses.” Turner’s own “Bo Brussels” has an air of Ornette about it as Rosenwinkel and the drummers hang a thick curtain of sound behind Mark’s solo.
Mark Turner: In This World
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