2024 · Album
Solid Jackson
Recorded 2023 · Criss Cross Jazz · Personnel: Brad Mehldau (piano), Mark Turner (tenor saxophone), Peter Bernstein (guitar), Larry Grenadier (bass), Bill Stewart (drums)
Turner's Quintet at Full Maturity
A confident statement from a saxophonist working at the height of his powers with trusted collaborators.
By the time Mark Turner recorded Solid Jackson (2024), he had spent decades establishing himself as one of jazz's most thoughtful tenor saxophonists—intellectually rigorous but never cold, capable of both lyrical restraint and propulsive swing. This album, recorded with Brad Mehldau, Peter Bernstein, Larry Grenadier, and Bill Stewart, represents Turner working in a space of full artistic confidence, no longer proving anything but simply playing with musicians who understand his language completely.
The quintet format—piano, guitar, bass, drums, tenor—creates a dense but aerating texture. Mehldau and Bernstein don't compete; they trade space and color, allowing Turner's lines to move through the middle of the sound without clutter. Stewart and Grenadier anchor everything with the kind of intuitive timing that comes from repeated collaboration. This isn't a group learning each other; it's a group that has earned the right to listen closely and respond immediately. The playing is unhurried but never dragging, attentive to the compositions without being precious about them.
What distinguishes this from Turner's other recent work is its straightforwardness. There's no conceptual framework, no thematic arc across the album—just five musicians in a room playing jazz at a level most ensembles never reach. It's the sound of someone content to let quality musicianship do the talking.
Who's playing
Larry Grenadierdouble bass
Brad Mehldaupiano
Peter Bernsteinguitar
Mark Turnertenor saxophone
Bill Stewartdrums
Where next?
More by Mark Turner
All 35 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
