Mark Turner on "South Hampton"
In preparation for the two-part essay on Mark Turner that I wrote for Music & Literature (accessible here: Part One , Part Two ), I decided to transcribe some Mark. Prior to researching and writing this piece, I had consciously avoided listening to Mark for the past couple years. Like Steve Coleman or Bird or Trane, Mark's stylistic gravity is immense; I knew that if I got too close too early, it'd be hard to extricate myself later on. But I thought it was time for me finally to confront this singular saxophonic voice. This nine-chorus solo over a G blues is worth comparing to Mark's solo on "Hesitation Blues" on 1997's The Two Tenors , the Warner Bros. release that paired a younger Mark with James Moody. That blues is also in G, also fairly medium-slow, and distinctively Turnerian in its delivery and intervallic-melodic vocabulary, but 16 years later, it's clear that Mark has refined his language while gaining more rhythmic intensity, whi...