Mark Turner

A highly inventive saxophonist, Mark Turner found acclaim with his meticulous, harmonically rich approach to modern creative jazz. Drawing upon the innovative sound of artists like <a href="spotify:artist:2hGh5VOeeqimQFxqXvfCUf">John Coltrane</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1yVmVSKnpfLDIAbghFMN3D">Warne Marsh</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3BG0nwVh3Gc7cuT4XdsLtt">Joe Henderson</a>, Turner emerged in the early '90s playing his cerebral, classical-influenced brand of jazz. He gained early notice with albums like 1998's In This World and 2001's Dharma Days, working alongside such similarly inclined contemporaries as <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Brad Mehldau</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:253GMpCNwx1TJtASNAeDoP">Kurt Rosenwinkel</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0nXwIc4NAbu2K881ealRDu">Brian Blade</a>. Beginning with 2009's Sky and Country, he built a close association with the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> label, splitting his time between collaborating with his <a href="spotify:artist:3EBdRSdPBWmqkJUx9DEPY7">Fly</a> trio (with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HGsz6HI7mw7t14Fb2irLV">Larry Grenadier</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:76q6tJ5SRqReZwwCfdzr4I">Jeff Ballard</a>) and helming ambitious solo dates like 2014's Lathe of Heaven, his 2018 duo session Temporary Kings with <a href="spotify:artist:1S4iuO3CO7qD8l4wTetMQH">Ethan Iverson</a>, and 2022's Return from the Stars. He and <a href="spotify:artist:1S4iuO3CO7qD8l4wTetMQH">Iverson</a> are also regular members of drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5DFipPOMNcZT3XMGx59s5I">Billy Hart</a>'s quartet, having appeared on all of the group's albums, including 2025's Just.

Born in Fairborn, Ohio, in 1965, Turner grew up in Southern California, where his parents exposed him to a fertile mix of jazz, R&B, and gospel. Starting out on clarinet in elementary school, he quickly gravitated toward the saxophone, inspired in part by the fact that his father, who died when Turner was not yet two, had played the instrument. While music was a driving passion, he initially studied design and illustration at California State University, Long Beach and played in various jazz ensembles before transferring to Boston's renowned Berklee College of Music. During these years, he studied his idols, dissecting the solos of artists like <a href="spotify:artist:2hGh5VOeeqimQFxqXvfCUf">John Coltrane</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:05E3NBxNMdnrPtxF9oraJm">Lester Young</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3BG0nwVh3Gc7cuT4XdsLtt">Joe Henderson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1yVmVSKnpfLDIAbghFMN3D">Warne Marsh</a>, and others. Graduating in 1990, he moved to New York City, where he quickly found himself an in-demand performer, playing live and recording with <a href="spotify:artist:3892cnPKekE4ptKhtds8lm">Leon Parker</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5xPZyHgmLYsNiG3GI8ESEk">Ryan Kisor</a>, and Jimmy Smith. He also began leading his groups, and by the early '90s, had begun developing his own distinctive approach to jazz, playing highly intellectual, probing solos rife with nuanced harmonies and motivic development. It was a sound he displayed on his 1995 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Criss+Cross%22">Criss Cross</a> debut, Yam Yam, playing alongside the similarly thoughtful talents of guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:253GMpCNwx1TJtASNAeDoP">Kurt Rosenwinkel</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Brad Mehldau</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HGsz6HI7mw7t14Fb2irLV">Larry Grenadier</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:0bUTRhTTU18M19hpsAPSrE">Jorge Rossy</a>.

In the late '90s he signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner+Bros.%22">Warner Bros.</a> and issued a handful of highly regarded and deeply probing albums including 1998's Mark Turner, in which he was joined by fellow rising sax star <a href="spotify:artist:3uaHfXYx9Fh4HjqMbrWn5S">Joshua Redman</a>, and 1998's In This World, with <a href="spotify:artist:2vI9KFm0fwSfPrpEgOeIbq">Mehldau</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:0nXwIc4NAbu2K881ealRDu">Brian Blade</a>. He finished out his run at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Warner%22">Warner</a> with 2001's Dharma Days, a quartet date once again featuring guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:253GMpCNwx1TJtASNAeDoP">Rosenwinkel</a>, as well as bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5Bj6U1x2ex6wcZccSxdzBB">Reid Anderson</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5fhkjcgOAjl6gQGsQOcP46">Nasheet Waits</a>.

Around this time, the birth of Turner's first child found him pulling back from leading his own groups. Instead, he took on session work, often as a member of <a href="spotify:artist:253GMpCNwx1TJtASNAeDoP">Rosenwinkel</a>'s band, and appeared on albums by saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:4YNvbaOaqp5pzC5US5t48k">Lee Konitz</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0ypoktoWpg9YPCQOTSzLEO">Joe Martin</a>, and vibraphonist <a href="spotify:artist:7eB8EfIfM9Zvt7KM2GMXqj">Matthias Lupri</a>. Turner made a brief return to his own work issuing Fly, the eponymous debut album from his trio with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HGsz6HI7mw7t14Fb2irLV">Grenadier</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:76q6tJ5SRqReZwwCfdzr4I">Jeff Ballard</a>. There were also dates with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:1ibLgDTHZc1KCkLPfOQr2g">Omer Avital</a>, saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:35fZivtiaWTLzphTDaWnrf">David Binney</a>, before he made his debut with drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5DFipPOMNcZT3XMGx59s5I">Billy Hart</a>'s quartet on ECM for 2006's Quartet with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:1S4iuO3CO7qD8l4wTetMQH">Ethan Iverson</a> and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:649VhpjHo5aMtz2RlIlUSR">Ben Street</a>.

Returning to more active work as a leader, Turner signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> and released Sky and Country, his second trio album with <a href="spotify:artist:3EBdRSdPBWmqkJUx9DEPY7">Fly</a>. A third <a href="spotify:artist:3EBdRSdPBWmqkJUx9DEPY7">Fly</a> album followed for the label in 2012's Year of the Snake. Also in 2012, he again joined drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5DFipPOMNcZT3XMGx59s5I">Hart</a>, Iverson, and Street for All Our Reasons on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a>. He then paired with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:13hKwJWXAVm2hYLiJbM69R">Baptiste Trotignon</a> for the duo album Dusk Is a Quiet Place on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Na%C3%AFve%22">Naïve</a> label.

He returned to his own work for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22ECM%22">ECM</a> with the ambitious Lathe of Heaven in 2014. Inspired by writer <a href="spotify:artist:3hRkdmBB1EvPmixg8PYgAr">Ursula K. Le Guin</a>'s 1971 dystopian science fiction novel, Lathe of Heaven showcased the saxophonist's pianoless quartet featuring trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:5wu05jGsVMAFHYMYHqCB9l">Avishai Cohen</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0ypoktoWpg9YPCQOTSzLEO">Joe Martin</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:1caVPl46Ta6C8DYns5AAuo">Marcus Gilmore</a>. A third <a href="spotify:artist:5DFipPOMNcZT3XMGx59s5I">Billy Hart</a> quartet date, One Is the Other, also arrived that same year. He collaborated again with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:1S4iuO3CO7qD8l4wTetMQH">Iverson</a> on 2018's Temporary Kings, before releasing 2019's Where Are You, a trio album with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2uOemiMYq8Lh6yzwELpb3J">Kevin Hays</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:5k9fBcpEq6FWQH87BSLIpy">Marc Miralta</a>. Mark Turner Meets Gary Foster, an archival 2003 duo concert between the two saxophonists, also appeared in 2019. In 2022, Turner reconvened his quartet for Return from the Stars, again featuring bassist <a href="spotify:artist:0ypoktoWpg9YPCQOTSzLEO">Martin</a>, as well as trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:4p1XWXdj83wryyzZTpeWf3">Jason Palmer</a> and drummer Jonathan Pinson. In 2025, he was back with <a href="spotify:artist:5DFipPOMNcZT3XMGx59s5I">Hart</a>'s quartet, along with <a href="spotify:artist:1S4iuO3CO7qD8l4wTetMQH">Iverson</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:649VhpjHo5aMtz2RlIlUSR">Street</a>, for Just. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi