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Mark Turner: Mark Turner: Lathe of Heaven
ByFor his first solo album as a leader in 13 years, Turner takes the opportunity to expand the growing number of New York-based musicians being recruited for ECM in recent years, with trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore all making their first appearances on the label with Lathe of Heaven. Focusing exclusively on his own writing, Turner brings four new compositions to the session, in addition to revisiting two previously recorded pieces. A more extended look at "Sonnet for Stevie" written, perhaps, as the result of Turner's participation in the SFJAZZ Collective's tours and recording of Live In New York Season 8: Music of Stevie Wonder (SFJAZZ, 2011) and first appearing, in a more amiably swinging form, on Hart's One is the Otheris more ruminative in nature, with a barely recognizable quote from the soul/R&B superstar's "Blame It on the Sun." If it does, indeed, explore Turner's relationship with the blues as he claims, it's a far more prismatic one, given both Turner and his chord-less quartet's deconstructive approach.
Similar in its oblique melodism, Lathe of Heaven's "Brother Sister" nevertheless possesses a more definitive backbeatat least initiallyfrom Gilmore than either the version on SFJAZZ Collective's Live 2010: 7th Annual Concert Tour (SFJAZZ, 2010) Horace Silver tribute, or the version on Year of the Snake (ECM, 2012), from Turner's collaborative FLY trio with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. But, as is true with much of Lathe of Heaven, there is often much more than meets the ear, as brief passages of unaccompanied instrumentsalone or, at one point with Turner and Cohen harmonizing in wonderful synchronicity, the saxophonist adopting a grittier, breathier tone than usual that melds perfectly with the tarter texture of Cohen's hornlead to subtle shifts in rhythm as Martin at one point adopts a double-time line while Gilmore remains to anchor the slower groove, but elsewhere holds the pulse, allowing the drummer more freedom to move. With Turner and Cohen engaging in both solo and in-tandem improvisational forays, rarely has so much been created from such a relatively spare compositional concept.
When there is no chordal instrument, there is both a greater opportunity to explore, unencumbered by predefined harmonics, and greater responsibility, as the horns are completely naked and exposed. That Turner and Cohen have extensive backgrounds working in chord-less trio contextsTurner with Fly, and Cohen in his own trio that has just released Dark Nights (Anzic, 2014)means that they understand both the responsibility of creating vertical harmonic contexts in collaboration with both Martin and Gilmore (whose melodic capabilities are especially on display here) and the need to pay particular attention to tone and timbre. On "Year of the Rabbit"Turner's continuation, perhaps, of concepts first demonstrated on his title track to Fly's Year of the SnakeCohen delivers a set-defining solo that soars from a lightly gritty lower register to stratospheric leaps possessed of inimitable purity, as he builds a lengthy feature predicated as much on the repetition of simple motifs as it is more extreme and seemingly effortless virtuosity. A brief, idiosyncratic unison line leads to Turner's solo, which covers similar territory while at the same time, with the saxophonist's intervallic leaps and pure altissimo, carving out its own space.
As cerebral as Turner's music can be and as considered as his compositional constructs are oftentimes building surprising significance from the smallest of conceptsLathe of Heaven manages to stir the soul as much as it challenges the mind. Deep, dark and ever substituting implication for overt expressionism, it's that very tension created by Turner's quartetmore often than not, resolving in the most unexpected fashionthat makes the saxophonist's first album as a leader in 13 years one worth celebrating. He may take his time between releases, but if an album like Lathe of Heaven is the result, then perhaps there's something to be learned from Turner's patience, and his clear commitment to quality over quantity.
Track Listing
Lathe of Heaven; Year of the Rabbit; Ethan's Line; The Edenist; Sonnet For Stevie; Brother Sister.
Personnel
Mark Turner
saxophone, tenorMark Turner: tenor saxophone; Avishai Cohen: trumpet; Joe Martin: double bass; Marcus Gilmore: drums.
Album information
Title: Mark Turner: Lathe of Heaven | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: ECM Records
Comments
About Mark Turner
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
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