The HISTORY of Steve Turre
Talk about an innovator! There’s a supremely talented cat in Montclair, Steve Turre, who’s an accomplished trombone man, but, unlike all other ‘bone men, he also plays seashells like no one else in the world. He was born in Nebraska to Mexican-American parents, raised in San Francisco, schooled at Sacramento State University, and tutored by the jazz great Woody Shaw [1944-1989]. Yet he gravitated towards the percolating percussion of salsa music. To that end, he joined the Escovedo Brothers Band before none other than Ray Charles picked him out from a bevy of applicants to go on the road.
A year later, Shaw got him a gig within Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. But his star was too bright and he became the man-in-demand for legends like Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Tito Puente, Van Morrison, Max Roach, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and so many more. Kirk was the man who introduced him to the sound one can get from a seashell and he’s been playing shells ever since.
So much music. So many albums. So many bands.
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Turre joined the Saturday Night Live band in 1984. He’s still there. His Right There was one of the best jazz albums of 1991. In 1993, his Sanctified Shells featured a “shell choir.” In 1995, Rhythm Within had the likes of Herbie Hancock, Jon Faddis and Pharoah Sanders. He went Afro-Cuban and Brazilian on his 1997 Steve Turre album, putting together a dream band of Cassandra Wilson, Randy Brecker, Mongo Santamaria and JJ Johnson. Verve released his Lotus Flower in 1999 featuring his Sextet With Strings so the colors of violin, cello, piano, bass and drums could bleed into his ‘bone and shells. That same year, In The Spur Of The Moment had him with three different quartets, each spearheaded by a pianistic giant (Ray Charles, Chucho Valdes and Stephen Scott). Earlier this year, his 23rd album, Sanyas, was recorded live at the Manhattan nightspot Smoke.
Steve Turre, 75, is an American Treasure.