Re: Chris Turner



Larry Boy Pratt wrote:
"I have a student starting with me next week.  He has a record
by Chris Turner and would like me to show him a few things on the
album.  I don't know the name of the album at this time.  He said Chris
is a british harp player.  Can anyone enlighten me?  Whatever you can
tell me
about Chris Turner would be greatly appreciated."

I worked in a duo with Chris Turner from about 1976-78.  He was, and is,
a brilliant player with a unique style, derived in equal measure from
studies of 20th century European art music (especially Stravinsky),
Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Little Walter, and various
non-Western musics.  Among other things, he won the Solo Diatonic
Championship in the European Harmonica competitions held by Hohner in
1976 with his piece "78," a masterpiece that combines Sonny Boy
Williamson with 7/8 rhythms.

Turner and I recorded several hours of material together, some of which
I have released previously in cassette format under the title "The
Constellation Special Meets the Nova Express".  The music was extremely
high energy, sometimes to the point of audience discomfort, and it drew
on all the sources mentioned previously.  Lovers of the classical
avant-garde were blown away by it.  In a concert of ours at Harvard in
Cambridge, MA in 1979 arranged by a fan on the Harvard faculty, Brother
Blue, one of Cambridge's most renowned street performers, was inspired
to improvise along with us, which he almost never did; he created and
recited a poem on the spot about "Muddy Duddy," a mythical musician who
"heard the sound of a harp in the ground".  I trust I have said enough
at this point to convey the essential wildness of the music we made
together.

Turner put out a full-length 33 1/3 RPM LP in roughly 1982-3; the title
was "Harmonicas".  It featured a number of his compositions, arranged
for multiple (overdubbed) harmonicas; some tracks feature two bass
harmonicas, others mutliple diatonics, etc., etc.  I consider it a work
of genius.  Like much of Chris's music, it's not for the faint-hearted. 
he also released one or two EPs with the acoustic Nee Ningy Band
(harmonica, fiddle, washtub bass, and mandolin) in the early 1980s.

Turner currently lives and composes music for a theatre in Providence,
RI.  I haven't heard that music, but I'll bet it's great stuff.  I
covered Turner's composition "Dancers in the Bullrushes" on my CD "The
Second Act of Free Being", released in 1997.

I learned a lot from Turner, and his approach to rhythm and tone-shaping
in particular had a big effect on my own solo compositions.  I learned
vamping (tongued chording) style from him, and it greatly expanded my
horizons as a player.  I wrote my first solo pieces, including "Winter
Sun at Nobska" and "Golden Mel," during the period when Turner and I had
our duo.

I recommend Turner's music to all.  Anyone who wants to teach Turner's
stuff should get a copy of the record in question, and listen very
carefully.  Keep in mind that many of the tone shifts he produces are
done with hand motions, of which he commanded an endless variety.  

Regards, Richard Hunter





This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.