The return of a star

Mark Turner is back with a new quartet album after eight years. It is worth the wait.

Mark Turner – Return from the Star (ECM, 2022)

Tenor saxophonist Mark Turner takes his time doing things. It has been eight years since his last quartet release Lathe of Heaven (2014). This new release sounds like it picks up just where the previous one left off.

Turner has such a strong identity as a composer and bandleader that it even is hard to hear the major changes in personnel between them. Trumpeter Jason Palmer has replaced Avishai Cohen, and drummer Jonathan Pinson has replaced Marcus Gilmore. Only bassist Joe Martin has stayed put.

It is music which like Turner is in no hurry to impress. The themes and improvisations are sort of low-key. On a song like Lincoln Heights which has a long theme which gets repeated over and over and where drummer Pinson finally starts to loudly varying the rhythm even he is unable to change the melancholy mood of the song.

Egoless music

Turner use some of the same method on the title song where bassist Martin gets to dialogue with the horns which plays the long theme in unison. And when they start to solo they do so in dialogue taking turns in short statements rather than in long exploratory solos. It is very conversational egoless music where the focus is always on the ensemble.

It is a style of band leading which corresponds well with Turner’s playing style which he never uses to impress even if he is an obvious virtuous and major stylistic influence.

The quartet form without a pianist is still so unusual that it sort of remind me of Ornette Coleman’s classic recordings from the late 1950s, especially the melancholic pieces like Lonely Woman, but Turner’s use of the format is much more well-arranged.

This is music which may not impress you on first listening but it surely will grow on you. The only thing I miss is a really strong melody like Sonnet for Stevie from his previous album. But apart from that I am sure that this is one of the major releases this year.