Mark Turner Quartet

Mark Turner is one of the most admired saxophonists of his generation, renowned for his exploratory intellect and intimate expressivity on the full range of the tenor. This is his ECM leader debut, following albums for the label in the cooperative trio Fly with Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard, and appearances on key recordings by Billy Hart, Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani. Turner leads a quartet of kindred spirits here, often entwining in serpentine fashion with rising-star trumpeter Avishai Cohen. They play long, introspective lines of hypnotic grace; and with the lithe rhythm section of bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, there is subtle volatility in the air.

Mark Turner’s writing for his quartet on Return from the Stars (titled after Stanislav Lem’s science fiction novel) gives the players plenty of space in which to move, on an album both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression. Solos flow organically out of the arrangements and, beneath the often-dazzling interplay of Turner’s tenor and Jason Palmer’s trumpet, the rhythm section of Joe Martin and Jonathan Pinson roams freely. Although Turner has been a frequent presence on ECM in contexts including the Billy Hart Quartet, the Fly trio, and a duo with Ethan Iverson, Return from the Stars is his first quartet album since 2014’s Lathe of Heaven and an essential document of his artistry as a player and his conceptual thinking as a bandleader.

For the last 12 years, audiences have scrambled to get seats at venues whenever celebrated American tenor saxophonist Mark Turner toured with Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug's quartet. The bond between the musicians becomes especially evident when they explo-re their shared musical language which seam-lessly blends composed and improvised ma-terial. On his new album, NOCTURNES, Ploug presents new original compositions and fresh interpretations of inspiring source material by Danish composers Bent Sorensen and Carl Nielsen.

The initial musical connection between saxophonist Mark Turner and pianist Ethan Iverson was made in 1990s jam sessions in New York City. A decade after their first meeting, the saxophonist and pianist began an association in the Billy Hart Quartet, the two players featuring on two widely lauded ECM albums by that band. Now with Temporary Kings – their debut on record as a duo – Turner and Iverson explore aesthetic common ground that encompasses the cool-toned intricacies of the Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh jazz school, as well as the heightened intimacy of modernist chamber music.