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 | Dave TurnerFor The Kindness Of StrangersLabel: Justin Time | Jazz | June 10, 1989Format UPC Order # Unit Price |
Production Credits | TracksNo Title Duration Excerpts 04 One For Chazz 00:06:32 05 Jessie 00:06:15 06 J & B Blues 00:05:58 07 Daydream 00:04:59 08 There Is No Greater Love 00:10:21 Liner NotesMusicians, especially jazz musicians, have particularly difficult decisions to make about the relationship between their art and the lives they lead off-stage. Unlike the novelist or painter, the talented jazz musician often has to resolve the tension between a relatively settled domestic life and the dubious rewards of a life on the road. Dave Turner, Montreal's premier alto saxophonist, made the risky choice years ago to be a jazz musician rather than just a musician who plays jazz; the other part of his decision was to be content with what work there was close to home. As a result, fans outside of Montreal would have heard him only on a few CBC broadcasts with his own groups or featured with Vic Vogel's big band (Turner's passionate and spectacular solo on "Ballad for Duke" was a major factor in the success of Vogel's Awesome Big Baud record when it was released in the United States). Turner's first recording under his own name, Café Alto (CBC Enterprises), was nominated for a Juno Award, but despite critical acclaim it as had limited distribution. Having firmly established himself at home musically and personally, Dave Turner has begun to seek new challenges and a wider audience. He has recently played in Europe (principally Amsterdam), at several jazz festivals in Western Canada, and at Sweet Basil in New York City.This recording is largely a result of Dave Turner's successful New York appearance where he played for the first time with the expatriate drummer Terry Clarke and the peripatetic bassist Dave Young. To these Canadian stars with established international reputations Turner has added the seasoned American pianist Ronnie Mathews, who has worked with most of the major musicians of the last three decades, including Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard and Art Blakey. The album's title tune, "For the Kindness of Strangers", is a Turner composition which was not prompted by Tennessee Williams but does express a gratitude Turner has shared with the character Blanche DuBois. In the introduction the rhythm section establishes the moody ostinato which underpins most of the quirky 40 bar melody and the suitably introspective solos by Turner and Mathews. "A.B.C.s" is a Turner homage to Ronnie Mathew's old boss Art Blakey and is a tune often played by the Messenger-influenced sextet co-led by Turner and the trumpet player Ron DiLauro. In this version Terry Clarke plays an expert and respectful shuffle without being slavishly imitative; Dave Young's singing bass lines contribute to the happy feeling. For several years early in his career Dave Turner was the only non-Latino in a band comprised mainly of Colombians. His continuing penchant for Latin American rhythms is reflected in "Recado" and in his own composition "One for Chazz", affectionately dedicated to the trumpet player Charles Ellison, an important contributor to jazz in Montreal. Further tribute is paid in the playing of Ellison's composition "Jessie". It is a catchy 16 bar tune with intimations of Benny Golson and Randy Weston, a point not lost on Ronnie Mathews. In the fast "J&B Blues", Mathews reinforces his image as the complete musician totally in control of the idiom; his quotation from "Sleighride" is the only musical concession he makes to a December night which was unusually frigid, even for Montreal. There is heat too in the leader's fiery solo. Throughout this recording Dave Turner reveals himself as a fully mature player who has the confidence and technical facility to convey his distinctive musical personality. His conception is deeply rooted in jazz tradition; less obvious than the influence of Cannonball Adderley is that of a whole spectrum of alto players from Louis Jordan and Earl Bostic to Ornette Coleman. The duo performance of "Day Dream" - the result of a self-effacing suggestion by Dave Young - is a lyrical tribute to the spirits of Ellington, Strayhorn and, of course, Johnny Hodges. This record is an act of artistic kindness on the part of four exceptional musicians. For Dave Turner it is also bound to turn many former strangers into friends. Doug Rollins - Department of Humanities Dawson College |
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