Born in the U.S. state of Ohio, Mark Turner grew up in California and was raised in an intellectual family influenced by the political dimension of 1970s music. He began playing the saxophone during high school and later deepened his musical studies at the University of California and the prestigious Berklee College of Music, while simultaneously engaging with local jazz ensembles. In 1990, Turner moved to New York City to pursue a professional music career and received early critical acclaim following the release of his first albums as a bandleader, featuring collaborations with prominent musicians of his generation such as Brad Mehldau and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Since then, Mark Turner has maintained a prolific creative output, releasing eight albums as a leader to date and regularly co-leading groups like the trio Fly (with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard), as well as contributing extensively as a sideman in live performances and recordings with artists including Enrico Rava, David Binney, Billy Hart, and Gilad Hekselman.
The Mark Turner Quintet performing at Guimarães Jazz is composed of an illustrious lineup of musicians, all well known to jazz aficionados and the festival audience due to their previous appearances in earlier editions in other projects: Jason Palmer — a talented trumpeter who garnered critical acclaim in Guimarães as part of the Marcus Strickland Quintet; David Virelles — a virtuoso pianist and improviser whose expansive style is deeply influenced by Afro-Cuban musical traditions; Matt Brewer — one of the most in-demand bassists of his generation and an original composer; and Nasheet Waits — an exceptional drummer who has collaborated with numerous jazz greats, including Jason Moran, with whom he has maintained a productive creative partnership for over two decades.
In this concert, the Mark Turner Quintet will present the saxophonist and composer’s latest original project, based on the novel by James Weldon Johnson titled Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, exploring themes of race, class, and cultural identity in the United States. The jazz interpretation of a literary work is an unusual format given the inherently abstract nature of musical language; therefore, alongside the sounds created by the exceptional musicians in this group, Turner’s compositions are complemented by the narration of the text that inspired the work, delivered by the saxophonist himself.