Since going out on his own after leaving his longstanding quartet with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, tenor saxist Mark Turner has carved out a niche of being one of the more influential reed men around, with a distinct tone and creative harmonic approach. Here, he leads a pianoless quartet with trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson for eight originals that sound like they’re cut from the cloth of vintage Miles Davis circa ESP.
Turner gets into a low and deep register as he introduces a clever reworking of a Cole Porter classic , loose and graceful on “It’s Not Alright With Me” and teams with Palmer on a high registered harmonic of a bopping “Bridgetown”. Palmer sounds like he’s been taking his Booker Little pills, mixing sweet and pungent tones and creative solo workirng while digging in on the dark “Terminus” and lithe around Pinson’s drum work on” Nigeria II”. Martin passes hip baton to Pinson on the lurking and bluesy “Terminues” with the horns dreamy on the percolating “Waste Land”. Modern musings that work.