Saturday, November 11, 2 - 4 pm

Join us for this special workshop with one of the most influential saxophonists on today’s jazz scene. This attendee-driven workshop may include strategies for improvising, how and what to practice, and much more! Mark will invite CJC degree program student ensembles to play and receive constructive feedback. Time permitting, other attendees will be invited to play as well! The workshop also includes an open Q&A period, so bring your questions! Open to all levels and instruments.

Noted as “possibly jazz’s premier player” by the New York Times and lauded as playing “the best tenor saxophone of his generation” by his longtime collaborator Ethan Iverson, Mark Turner is unquestionably a giant of the tenor saxophone – a modern-day jazz master. 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 to 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 John Coltrane, Lester Young, Joe Henderson, Warne Marsh, 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 Leon Parker, Ryan Kisor, 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.

A highly inventive saxophonist, Mark Turner has found acclaim with his meticulous, harmonically rich approach to modern creative jazz. In a career that spans more than two decades, Mark Turner has emerged as a towering presence in the jazz community and is one of the most highly-regarded tenor saxophonists in jazz. As The New York Times noted, his stature in the jazz world keeps growing… a great jazz musician.” With a distinctive tone, singular improvisational skills, and an innovative compositional approach, Turner has earned a far-reaching reputation as one of jazz’s most original musical forces. As fellow saxophonist Ravi Coltrane said, “Mark Turner is one of the most important players that has come along in the last 20 years, easily the most influential.”