{"id":103183,"date":"2021-02-10T14:14:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=103183"},"modified":"2021-02-10T14:19:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T19:19:53","slug":"mark-turner-transcriptions-and-essays-by-jeff-mcgregor-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/mark-turner-transcriptions-and-essays-by-jeff-mcgregor-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays by Jeff McGregor Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last couple of weeks, \u00a0I have been checking out two amazing transcription books by Jeff McGregor entitled Chris Potter-Transcriptions and Essays<\/em> and Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays. <\/em>I already reviewed the Chris Potter Transcription book<\/a>,\u00a0 and today I will be reviewing Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\nMark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays by Jeff McGregor<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

If you were to gather ten saxophone players around a table and have a discussion about who the cutting edge modern tenor saxophone players of this era would be, the names of Chris Potter and Mark Turner would undoubtedly be mentioned in that discussion.<\/p>\n

These are two tenor saxophone players that have captured my attention for many decades now.\u00a0 I actually went to Berklee School of Music with Mark Turner in the late 80’s and even then, I would slow down nonchalantly, bend down and pretend to re-tie my perfectly tied shoelaces as I walked outside his practice room so I could hear what he was working on.<\/p>\n

Mark Turner is an incredible tenor saxophone player that I have always found to be original and on a path all his own.\u00a0 I remember getting his first CD “Yam Yam” and being really intrigued and perplexed by it.\u00a0 The music on that CD was unlike any I had ever heard before.\u00a0 I listened to it over and over, and now, even 20+ years later, I still name that recording as one of my choices for my top 10 favorite tenor saxophone recordings.<\/p>\n

What I love about “Yam Yam” goes hand in hand with what I love about Mark Turner’s saxophone playing.\u00a0 The music is beautiful, creative and original.\u00a0 The songs on that album convey colors and emotions as if the notes were on a musical canvas or landscape.\u00a0 There is something aesthetic in the music that goes beyond words for me that I am enthralled by.<\/p>\n

Mark Turner’s improvisational concept can also be described this same way.\u00a0 His tenor sax solos are beautiful, creative and original. His improvisations create a musical landscape that shifts from consonance and dissonance while painting a sonic tapestry for the listener. Mark Turner does this without using many of the common tools and tricks most sax player’s use to get reactions from their audience. (bending notes, growling, repeated riffs, long loud altissimo notes, etc……)<\/p>\n

The other thing I love about Mark Turner,\u00a0 is that I never know what he is going to play next or where he is going to go.\u00a0 When you are a musician for most of your life and spend most of your free time practicing, studying and listening to music, the most attractive music is the music that is new and surprising to you.\u00a0 That is how I view Mark Turner’s compositions and his improvisations.\u00a0 I don’t hear all the cliche licks known by every sax player, to the contrary,\u00a0 Mark Turner always sounds like he is striving to create something unique and original every time he plays his saxophone.<\/p>\n

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\nMark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays by Jeff McGregor<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Mark Turner Transcription and Essays<\/em> book, like the Chris Potter Transcription book,\u00a0 is a quality product.\u00a0 It is spiral bound so the book can lay flat on a music stand or desk.\u00a0 The pages are nice and thick quality paper that doesn’t bleed through.\u00a0 The music staves are widely spaced with an average of eight staves to a page.\u00a0 The solos, although incredibly complex, are easy to look at and read as far as the spacing and font sizes.<\/p>\n

Here is a breakdown of the contents of the Mark Turner Transcription and Essays<\/em> from Jeff McGregor’s website<\/a>:<\/p>\n

This new collection of 35 transcriptions draws from across Mark Turner’s discography. Also included are transcriptions from various bootlegs selected for this project. You can find these recordings collected\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The accompanying collection of essays are based on an extended series of interviews with Mark Turner. They offer an\u00a0in-depth look at\u00a0various aspects of Turner’s playing. Excerpts from the transcriptions are also analyzed and discussed. A foreword by\u00a0Kevin Sun<\/a>\u00a0provides the historical context of the transcriptions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Transcriptions are all Bb parts. This project was edited by\u00a0Jim Brenan.<\/em><\/p>\n

236 Pages<\/em><\/p>\n

This collection includes the following transcriptions.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLathe of Heaven\u201d from\u00a0Lathe of Heaven\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cSonnet for Stevie\u201d from\u00a0Lathe of Heaven\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cEthan\u2019s Line\u201d from\u00a0Lathe of Heaven\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cMurley\u2019s in the House\u201d from\u00a0Solos: The Jazz Sessions\u00a0(2011)
\n\u201cBerkeley Street\u201d from\u00a0Solos: The Jazz Sessions\u00a0(2011)
\n\u201cJacky\u2019s Place\u201d from\u00a0Dharma Days\u00a0(2001)
\n\u201c26-2\u201d from\u00a0Mark Turner\u00a0(1998)
\n\u201c317 East 32nd Street\u201d from\u00a0Mark Turner\u00a0(1998)
\n\u201cSalt and Pepper\u201d from\u00a0Year of the Snake\u00a0(2012)
\n\u201cYear of the Snake\u201d from\u00a0Year of the Snake\u00a0(2012)
\n\u201cPerla Morena\u201d form\u00a0Sky & Country\u00a0(2009)
\n\u201cJJ\u201d from\u00a0Fly\u00a0(2004)
\n\u201cState of the Union\u201d from\u00a0Fly\u00a0(2004)
\n\u201cLennie Groove\u201d from\u00a0One is the Other\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cTeule’s Redemption\u201d from\u00a0One is the Other\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cYard\u201d from\u00a0One is the Other\u00a0(2014)
\n\u201cOhnedaruth\u201d from\u00a0All Our Reasons\u00a0(2012)
\n\u201cTolli’s Dance\u201d from\u00a0All Our Reasons\u00a0(2012)
\n\u201cMellow B\u201d from\u00a0Quartet\u00a0(2006)
\n\u201cIverson\u2019s Odyssey\u201d from\u00a0Quartet\u00a0(2006)
\n\u201cChords\u201d from\u00a0The Remedy\u00a0(2008)
\n\u201cFlute\u201d from\u00a0The Remedy\u00a0(2008)
\n\u201cView from Moscow\u201d from\u00a0The Remedy\u00a0(2008)
\n\u201cA Life Unfolds\u201d from\u00a0The Remedy\u00a0(2008)
\n\u201cZhivago\u201d from\u00a0The Next Step\u00a0(2001)
\n\u201cMinor Blues\u201d from\u00a0The Next Step\u00a0(2001)
\n\u201cStablemates\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cI’ll Remember April\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cCrepuscule\u00a0with Nellie\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cYard\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cTwo for the Blues\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cAiregin\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cJacky\u2019s Place\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cAlong Came Betty\u201d from\u00a0Selected Bootlegs
\n\u201cSouth Hampton\u201d from Selected Bootlegs<\/p>\n

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Mark Turner and Jeff McGregor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Turner Transcription and Essays<\/em> starts with a foreword where Jeff writes about the timeline of Mark Turner’s recording history starting from 1995 with his first recording, “Yam Yam” up until 2014 and the recording “Lathe of Heaven”.\u00a0 He writes about the different groups and albums that the transcriptions are from.<\/p>\n

There are many interesting quotes from Mark Turner throughout the timeline where he talks about the impact other musicians like Billy Hart, Kurt Rosenwinkel and others had on him as well as the NY jazz scene in the early 90’s with players such as Joshua Redman, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, Brad Mehldau and many others.<\/p>\n

At the end of Mark Turner\u00a0Transcription and Essays<\/em> are more insightful essays on Mark Turner’s musical influences, his approach to improvisation and the impact of the blues, bebop and voicings on his improvisational language.<\/p>\n

What I find most interesting about these essays in the back of the book are Mark Turner’s candid comments about himself, his work ethic, methodical approach and how his approach differs from many sax players on the scene today.<\/p>\n

Especially interesting to me is page 205 where the subject of natural talent is addressed:<\/p>\n

“Although Turner began to achieve professional success in his twenties, he was not a musical prodigy and he repeatedly asserted that he did not have any significant natural talent.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a quote from Mark Turner from that same page on talent:<\/p>\n

“What’s great about not being talented is that it forces you to do sh**. I am not saying that I don’t respect people with huge amounts of talent. It’s great to hear and it doesn’t mean that they aren’t practicing and thinking about things. The problem is that often the paradigm from students and the listening public is that musicians or artists don’t work. We work! The masters got to the places they did because they worked on it. They thought about it, they practiced, and they tried to figure out how to get these notes to sound incredible, bad-ass, spiritual, beautiful, and intelligent. You have to actually think about that, talented or not. It takes energy. If you don’t work at it, you won’t get there.”-Mark Turner<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays-Sample Page<\/strong><\/p>\n

When one listens to Mark Turner’s saxophone playing you can kind of get swept up in the ethereal flowing aesthetic of it all.\u00a0 It is hard to make sense of and almost sounds completely random to the listener.\u00a0 Even I, as a student of jazz and improvisation, found little that was familiar to grasp on to intellectually at first.\u00a0 My ear heard different flowing lines, but it was hard to latch on to anything.\u00a0 I remember wondering early on, “Is this all completely random?”\u00a0 Here is a quote from Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays<\/em> that I found on this topic:<\/p>\n

“After many hours of conversation with Mark, it struck me that there was never a question for which he did not have a well-defined answer. Over time, it became clear to me that there is little in his music that is not the result of a carefully considered decision.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, I went through the entire Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays <\/em>while listening to the recordings and what I was amazed by was the exactness of the notes in each of these solos.\u00a0 Mark Turner is really nailing these chord changes!\u00a0 Yes, there are times when he plays notes that are “outside” but as the improvised line weaves and dances above the harmony, Mark comes back and nails the next chord change perfectly. What sounds random to the ear is actually methodical and intellectually precise.<\/p>\n

What you see and hear in Mark Turner’s improvisations in comparison to his contemporaries is a freedom that allows him to make more use of the upper structures of the harmony.\u00a0 As I listened to Mark Turner’s solos and worked my way through Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays,\u00a0<\/em>I was struck by how comfortable Mark was with his fluid use of the 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of each chord as well as all the other note choices available in the chromatic scale.\u00a0 Whereas I am so\u00a0 diligent to resolve my improvised lines to a chord tone, Mark Turner seems perfectly content with starting or ending his lines on any note he chooses.<\/p>\n

A prime example is the first solo in the book, “Lathe of Heaven”.\u00a0 I opened Mark Turner Transcription and Essays<\/em> thinking “Ok, let’s see what Mark Turner is up to on these solos.”\u00a0 On the first measure of “Lathe of Heaven”, the chord is a Ab minor chord and Mark plays a low B to a dotted quarter note low C and then jumps up a middle Eb. My first thought, was how strange playing a C like that on Ab minor was.\u00a0 A measure later he plays an E over AbMaj7 holds it out for 4 1\/2 beats and then finally resolves to an Eb.\u00a0 This is just the first three measures of the book! Already, the part of Steve Neff’s brain that has to follow the rules was sounding the alarms!<\/p>\n

What I hear and see that is so attractive about Mark Turner to a jazz improviser like myself is a freedom and confidence that Mark Turner conveys while improvising.\u00a0 You get the impression, and I think rightly so, that all twelve notes are available to him at all times and whatever he hears, conceives or imagines is available to him in the moment to play.\u00a0 What makes this all the more impressive, is that he also sticks to the chord changes of the tune in a masterful way while traveling through all of these unique and creative improvised lines he is playing on his saxophone.<\/p>\n

Here is a great quote from an essay in the back of the book from Mark Turner on his conception of improvisation and it’s place within his music:<\/p>\n

“When you improvise, it is like you are playing a game. You have the freedom to move around, but there are rules. That is what creates the tension of the game. When you are playing a game and somebody starts cheating, everyone is like, “man, what the f***, why are we playing this game?”\u00a0 In music, when you play some s*** just to get over and you are not really improvising, you are not playing the game any more. It might sound good, you might have cheated and made this move that kind of sounded cool and made you win, but everything you won has no integrity.\u00a0 If you win the game through cheating, you haven’t really and the value of winning is completely lost.\u00a0 For me, playing is the same. If you don’t stay with the integrity of your ideas, you lose the game immediately, even if what you did sounds musically better.\u00a0 It is better to make some mistakes and stay with the integrity and keep going until it hurts. To me, that is far more interesting. I would rather hear somebody do that. Those are the people I love to hear.”-Mark Turner<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark Turner-Transcriptions and Essays-Sample Page<\/strong><\/p>\n

Each solo transcription comes with the chord changes written above the solo. I find the chord symbols to be incredibly enlightening as I can look at them and imagine some things I might play over those chords and then analyze what Mark Turner chose to play over those same chords.\u00a0 When his note choices are different than mine (which unsurprisingly is quite often), I can try to figure out what he was thinking or what harmonic concept he was utilizing.<\/p>\n

Besides the harmonic insights that Mark Turner\u00a0Transcription and Essays<\/em> reveals, the other huge benefit to having this book in your collection are the rhythmic insights that are revealed.\u00a0 A line from one of these solos that you might listen to and be perplexed by, can now be looked at and played slowly.\u00a0 \u00a0 Now I can look at Mark Turner\u00a0Transcription and Essays<\/em> and see very quickly how he is creating these lines rhythmically and then learn from his example.<\/p>\n