Roger Turner (musician)
Encyclopedia
Roger Turner is an English
jazz
percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.
for the British Council in 1968, a first concert in improvisation. His move to London gave him contact with the first and second generation improvisers and he began to play primarily with Lol Coxhill
, Gary Todd, John Russell, Hugh Davies
, Steve Beresford
, and Phil Minton
.
In the years immediately after 1974 his work was primarily concentrated on opening the way to a more personal percussion language. This was also a period of intense collaborations that structured many of his future approaches to music-making and saw the formation of two long-lasting acoustic duos with Phil Minton
and with John Russell
. Recordings of these duos document an extreme attention to timbre and pitch, as well as a constantly shifting speed that typified much of his work at the time. The duo with Minton toured extensively throughout Europe, USA and Canada.
In 1979 he established CAW records with John Russell and Anthony Wood, and recorded the solo album The Blur Between focussing on single surface improvisations: a linear and reduced equipment approach he had started using with Carlos Zingaro
and others in live performances.
In addition to forming Trump music with Gary Todd to promote improvised music in London, he also involved himself in formative activities of the London Musicians Collective
during this period. He was awarded Arts Council of Great Britain bursaries for solo percussion in 1980, and in 1983 for investigation into percussion with electronics. Extensive festival and club solo work followed, including the Bracknell Jazz Festival
and the Brussels Festival of Percussion.
In 1982 the trio The Recedents was formed with Lol Coxhill
and Mike Cooper exploring the possibilities of electro-acoustic music, in which Turner initially played drumset and EMS Synthi A
as a means of bending the sounds of various metal percussion instruments. This group, still existing, mixes song, jazz, punk/thrash, with acoustic detail in always shifting sonorities, and has worked throughout Europe, Canada and the U.K., also recording for the French Nato label. Involvements with experimental rock musics and open-form song included extensive work in duo with Annette Peacock
1983-5, with whom he toured in Europe and Scandinavia. They recorded the album I have no feelings for Ironic.
In 1984-5, he was invited for workshop residences at Alan Silva
's Institute Art Culture Perception in Paris, where long-term collaborations with Alan began, culminating in The Tradition Trio with Johannes Bauer. This group was central to his explorations of forms of free jazz, an interest that has seen him working with musicians on both sides of the Atlantic (including Elton Dean
, Irene Schweizer
, Cecil Taylor
, Roy Campbell, Henry Grimes
, The Wardrobe Trio and Charles Gayle
).
Since the early 1980s his work has focussed on numerous projects with improvising musicians and groups, touring Europe, Australia, USA and Canada. Perhaps the most important of the later groups would be Konk Pack, formed in 1997, with Tim Hodgkinson
and Thomas Lehn
, a group whose use of volume and sense of detail continues the exploration of an electro-acoustic dynamic that forms one of his main musical concerns. This group has toured extensively in Europe and USA.
He forged working relationships with Japanese musicians over the years: in the 1980s with Toshinori Kondo
in the trio with John Russell, but since the mid 90's in concerts and recordings with guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi
in Austria, Japan, and U.K, and in the recent (2009) Hana-Bi three day event in London that included the guitarist and the pianist Chino Shuichi.
An active involvement in visual art has always been in dialogue with his music, and an inspiration for it. In the forefront of this is his work with Susan Turcot (the investigation/documentation of music and sound-drawing both in Europe and Canada—including the Being Rich box collection -- , and music for her 2008 animation film Bitumen, Blood, and the Carbon Climb.
His music for dance/performance includes work with Alexander Frangenheim's Concepts of Doing, Stuttgart ; Carlos Zingaro's Encontros projects in Lisbon and Macau
; and most recently in the Josef Nadj production etc.etc. (premiered Vandeouvre, France, 2008) and which is a continuing involvement.
In March 2009 he was invited to travel and perform on the Arctic island Svalbard
, and was also invited to attend and play in the Comprovise event in Cologne, Germany in June 2009, set up to examine any possible relationship between improvisation and composition.
Turner's music-making with international improvisers in ad hoc and group collaborations have since the 70's to the present day included Toshinori Kondo
, Derek Bailey, Fred Frith
, Evan Parker
, William Parker
, Cecil Taylor
, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch
, Joelle Leandre
, Keith Rowe
, Ab Baars, Barry Guy
, Barre Philips, Henry Grimes
, Paul Rutherford
, Gunter Christmann, Marilyn Crispell
, Irene Schweizer
, Frederik Rzewski, and Malcolm Goldstein
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.
Career
Turner studied English literature and contemporary philosophy at Sussex University, playing with Chris BiscoeChris Biscoe
Chris Biscoe is an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, a player of the alto, soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, the alto clarinet, piccolo and flute...
for the British Council in 1968, a first concert in improvisation. His move to London gave him contact with the first and second generation improvisers and he began to play primarily with Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
, Gary Todd, John Russell, Hugh Davies
Hugh Davies
Hugh Seymour Davies was a musicologist, composer, and inventor of experimental musical instruments.Davies was born in Exmouth, Devon, England. After attending Westminster School, he studied music at Worcester College, Oxford from 1961 to 1964. Shortly after he traveled to Cologne, Germany to work...
, Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, trumpet, euphonium, double-bass and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music...
, and Phil Minton
Phil Minton
Phil Minton is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's...
.
In the years immediately after 1974 his work was primarily concentrated on opening the way to a more personal percussion language. This was also a period of intense collaborations that structured many of his future approaches to music-making and saw the formation of two long-lasting acoustic duos with Phil Minton
Phil Minton
Phil Minton is a jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's group, Daniil Kharms and Joseph Brodsky with Simon Nabatov, and extracts from James Joyce's...
and with John Russell
John Russell (musician)
John Russell is an acoustic guitarist who has worked exclusively in the field of free improvisation since the 1970s. He has been active consistently during that time as a promoter of concerts of freely improvised music in London, providing hundreds of playing opportunities for both local and...
. Recordings of these duos document an extreme attention to timbre and pitch, as well as a constantly shifting speed that typified much of his work at the time. The duo with Minton toured extensively throughout Europe, USA and Canada.
In 1979 he established CAW records with John Russell and Anthony Wood, and recorded the solo album The Blur Between focussing on single surface improvisations: a linear and reduced equipment approach he had started using with Carlos Zingaro
Carlos Zingaro
Carlos Zíngaro is a Portuguese violinist and electronic musician active in free improvisation....
and others in live performances.
In addition to forming Trump music with Gary Todd to promote improvised music in London, he also involved himself in formative activities of the London Musicians Collective
London Musicians Collective
The London Musicians' Collective is a cultural charity based in London, England devoted to the promotion of contemporary, experimental and improvised music...
during this period. He was awarded Arts Council of Great Britain bursaries for solo percussion in 1980, and in 1983 for investigation into percussion with electronics. Extensive festival and club solo work followed, including the Bracknell Jazz Festival
Bracknell Jazz Festival
The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general....
and the Brussels Festival of Percussion.
In 1982 the trio The Recedents was formed with Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...
and Mike Cooper exploring the possibilities of electro-acoustic music, in which Turner initially played drumset and EMS Synthi A
EMS Synthi A
The EMS Synthi A was a portable analog synthesizer made by Electronic Music Studios Ltd in 1971....
as a means of bending the sounds of various metal percussion instruments. This group, still existing, mixes song, jazz, punk/thrash, with acoustic detail in always shifting sonorities, and has worked throughout Europe, Canada and the U.K., also recording for the French Nato label. Involvements with experimental rock musics and open-form song included extensive work in duo with Annette Peacock
Annette Peacock
- Biography :Annette Peacock began composing at the age of four. Her mother was a violist in the San Diego and Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestras....
1983-5, with whom he toured in Europe and Scandinavia. They recorded the album I have no feelings for Ironic.
In 1984-5, he was invited for workshop residences at Alan Silva
Alan Silva
Alan Silva is an American free jazz double bassist and keyboard player.-Biography:...
's Institute Art Culture Perception in Paris, where long-term collaborations with Alan began, culminating in The Tradition Trio with Johannes Bauer. This group was central to his explorations of forms of free jazz, an interest that has seen him working with musicians on both sides of the Atlantic (including Elton Dean
Elton Dean
Elton Dean was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello and occasionally keyboard....
, Irene Schweizer
Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...
, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Roy Campbell, Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
, The Wardrobe Trio and Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...
).
Since the early 1980s his work has focussed on numerous projects with improvising musicians and groups, touring Europe, Australia, USA and Canada. Perhaps the most important of the later groups would be Konk Pack, formed in 1997, with Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds and keyboards. He is best known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968...
and Thomas Lehn
Thomas Lehn
Thomas Lehn is a German-born piano and synthesizer player active in free improvisation and contemporary music.Lehn has recorded with Marcus Schmickler, Keith Rowe, John Butcher, Phil Minton, Phil Durrant, Radu Malfatti, Axel Dörner, Cor Fuhler, Gerry Hemingway and is a member of the electronic...
, a group whose use of volume and sense of detail continues the exploration of an electro-acoustic dynamic that forms one of his main musical concerns. This group has toured extensively in Europe and USA.
He forged working relationships with Japanese musicians over the years: in the 1980s with Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
in the trio with John Russell, but since the mid 90's in concerts and recordings with guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Kazuhisa Uchihashi
Kazuhisa Uchihashi is a Japanese guitarist involved in free improvisation music. Born in 1959 in Osaka, Uchihashi began to play the guitar at age 12, playing in various rock bands, though he later studied jazz music. In 1988 he joined the band the First Edition, and in 1990 formed the band...
in Austria, Japan, and U.K, and in the recent (2009) Hana-Bi three day event in London that included the guitarist and the pianist Chino Shuichi.
An active involvement in visual art has always been in dialogue with his music, and an inspiration for it. In the forefront of this is his work with Susan Turcot (the investigation/documentation of music and sound-drawing both in Europe and Canada—including the Being Rich box collection -- , and music for her 2008 animation film Bitumen, Blood, and the Carbon Climb.
His music for dance/performance includes work with Alexander Frangenheim's Concepts of Doing, Stuttgart ; Carlos Zingaro's Encontros projects in Lisbon and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
; and most recently in the Josef Nadj production etc.etc. (premiered Vandeouvre, France, 2008) and which is a continuing involvement.
In March 2009 he was invited to travel and perform on the Arctic island Svalbard
Svalbard
Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...
, and was also invited to attend and play in the Comprovise event in Cologne, Germany in June 2009, set up to examine any possible relationship between improvisation and composition.
Turner's music-making with international improvisers in ad hoc and group collaborations have since the 70's to the present day included Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo
Toshinori Kondo is an avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter. He resides in Tokyo, New York City, and Amsterdam....
, Derek Bailey, Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, William Parker
William Parker (musician)
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist, poet and composer.-Biography:Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco...
, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch is a singer, performer, and composer. Central to Hirsch's work are her versatile vocal abilities, which are often enmeshed in a kaleidoscope of electronic music and sound effects....
, Joelle Leandre
Joëlle Léandre
Joëlle Léandre is a double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation....
, Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
, Ab Baars, Barry Guy
Barry Guy
Barry John Guy is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe...
, Barre Philips, Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
, Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford
Paul Rutherford is the former backing vocalist, dancer and occasional keyboardist with 1980s pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood , one of the group's two openly gay singers....
, Gunter Christmann, Marilyn Crispell
Marilyn Crispell
Marilyn Crispell is an American jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:Crispell studied classical piano and composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. She has been a resident of Woodstock, NY since 1977 when she came to study and teach at Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio...
, Irene Schweizer
Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...
, Frederik Rzewski, and Malcolm Goldstein
Malcolm Goldstein
Malcolm Goldstein is a composer, violinist and improviser who has been active in the presentation of new music and dance since the early 1960s. He received an M.A. in music composition from Columbia University in 1960, having studied with Otto Luening...
.
Discography
- Sunday Best, Incus, w/Gary Todd
- Artless Sky, Caw, w/Toshinori Kondo & John Russell
- The Blur Between, Caw, solo
- Cous Cous, Nato, w/Lol Coxhill
- Ammo, Leo , w/Phil Minton
- I have no feelings, Ironic, w/Annette Peacock
- Barbeque Strut , Nato, w/The Recedents
- Ruff, Leo, w/Minton,Tomlinson, Davies
- Several young men ignite, Reflex, w/The Nose Flutes
- Take some risks, In Situ, w/Alan Silva,Didier Petit
- Frogdance, Impetus , w/The Recedents
- Zombie Bloodbath, Nato, w/The Recedents
- Dada da, Leo, w/Phil Minton
- Mouthful of Ecstasy, Victo, w/Minton Quartet
- Birthdays, Emanem , w/John Russell
- In the tradition, In Situ, w/Alan Silva & Johannes Bauer
- Per s.e., Durian, w/Helge Hinteregger & Franz Hautzinger
- Short in the U.K., Incus , w/Steve Beresford Dennis Palmer,Bob Stagner
- Recent Croaks , Acta, w/Martin Klapper
- Interplay, FMR , w/Hugh Davies,John Russell
- Junk Percussion, Zero-g, Solo recordings for sampling
- Autism, Durian, w/Hinteregger& Uchihashi Kazuhisa
- Big Deep, Grob, Konk Pack
- Umlaut, Nurnichtnur, w/Birgit Ulher & Ulli Phillipp
- The Boss , Pink, w/Mathieu Chamagne & Franck Collot
- The Second Sky, Emanem, w/John Russell
- Warp Out, Grob, Konk Pack
- Screen, COD, w/Frangenheim, Yoshihide, Parkins, Leimgruber & Schurch,Newton.
- Tone, a11, Tradition Trio (w/Silva,Bauer)
- Live at the Total Music Meeting, a11, The New Flags (w/Xu,Fuchs)
- Trap Street, emanem, w/ Tomlinson & Beresford
- Off Leash, Grob, Konk Pack
- Drainage (double cd ), Emanem , w/Phil Minton
- I segnali della ritirata, Burp , w/Sanna & Ricci
- Number Nine, Emanem, w/ John Oswald & Michael Keith
- Oche, Kning Disc, w/ Christian Munthe
- Slur, Emanem, w/ Phil Minton Quartet
- Scatter, FMR, w/ Thomas,Tucker,Minton
- Goodbye Silence, FMR, w/The Articles (Thomas, Gustafsson)
External links
- http://www.roger-turner.com
- http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/mturner.html
- [ Allmusic biography by Eugene Chadbourne]
- FMP biography