Stephen Johnson Turre (/tɜːrˈeɪ/tur-AY; born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using seashells as instruments, as well as a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For sixty-three years, Turre has been active in jazz, rock, and Latin jazz – in live venues, recording studios, television, and cinema production.
He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader, and appeared on many more as a contributor or sideman. As a studio musician, Turre is among the most prolific living jazz trombonists in the world. He has been a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1985.
Early life
Turre is one of five children born to James Boles Turre (1921–1997) and Carmen Marie (née Johnson). His father was of Northern Italian ancestry and his mother was of Mexican ancestry. His grandfather, Ernest Turre, was a founder of the San Francisco 49ers with Tony Morabito. His four siblings are Michael James Turre (b.1946), Suzanne Turre (b.1952), Michele Anita Turre (b.1953), and Peter Joseph Turre (b.1957). Michael and Peter were musicians – saxophonist/woodwinds and drummer, respectively.
Turre (right) with Rahsaan Roland Kirk in Paris, 1976. Besides the saxophone, Kirk was known for performing on a variety of flutes, whistles, and other exotic or handmade instruments, including conch shells.
The Steve Turre Quintet at the Jazz Festival at Ishanya in Pune, India, 2011
For fifty-six years (since 1970), Turre has been an exponent of seashells – conch in particular – as serious musical instruments. According to Turre, encouragement came from Rahsaan Roland Kirk who was known for using a vast array of saxophones, flutes, and other instruments. Turre has a collection of shells of various sizes, most of them picked up during his travels in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The shells have their mouthpieces carefully cut and are tuned to specific pitches. When playing them as a soloist, he frequently switches between shells, as each is limited in its register (the smallest shells, for example, have a practical register of only a fifth). His largest shell, from the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, has a range between the D and E below middle C, and was painted by a Cuban artist. He also leads the Sanctified Shells, which is a "shell choir" made up of brass players who double on seashell (using shells from Turre's collection, which he loans out for rehearsals and performances). The group released its first, eponymous album in 1993. Turre has had a long experience with Latin jazz and is a skilled player of the cowbell and Venezuelan maracas.
Turre has been married three times. His first wife was Susan J. Beard, whom he married in 1970 in Dallas, Texas, and divorced in 1972 in San Francisco. His second wife was cellist Akua Dixon (born 1948) from 1978 to 2012, with whom he had two children: Andromeda Turre, a jazz vocalist and composer, and Orion Turre, a jazz drummer. His present wife is Pamela Turre, whom he married on September 24, 2017.[citation needed]
↑Wirt, George. "Steve Turre: a lifelong love affair with the trombone", The Montclair Times, January 13, 2011, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 16, 2011. Accessed September 18, 2017. "An active supporter of jazz education, Montclair trombonist Steve Turre (second from left), is shown above, with Montclair musicians, from left, vocalist Melissa Walker, drummer Billy Hart, and saxophonists Bruce Williams and Mike Lee as they take a break during their performance at the Jazz House Kids Bebop-a-Que, a fundraiser for the Jazz House Kids educational programs."
↑In Black and White – A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books Concerning Black Individuals and Groups, Third edition, Supplement, Mary Elizabeth Mace Spradling (1911–2009) (ed.), Detroit: Gale Research (1985); OCLC12286145
External links
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