Review: Mark Turner's PATTERNMASTER (and Reflections on Another Quartet — John Zorn's Masada)
The wonderful saxophonist has a quartet record on ECM that confirms his reputation as a creator of intricate lines of composition and improvisation
My PopMatters review of the latest album by tenor saxophonist Mark Turner is up.
You can read the review HERE.
The album is on ECM Records and features this pianoless quartet: Turner’s tenor, trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin, and Jonathan Pinson on drums.
In the review, I mention a few quartets that use the instrumentation of saxophone, trumpet, bass, and drums — including John Zorn’s Masada band, which recorded a string of acclaimed studio and live albums between 1994 and 2001. Masada was on my mind as I wrote the review because I planned to go out of my way to see a reunion performance by the band at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN.
Lines for the first Masada performance (first of the day on Friday at noon) were around the block. No luck. People were excited because the band had not played for some time, and well … could this be our last chance to hear them? Saturday’s midnight show was also packed, but I got in.
While Masada, like Turner’s quartet, uses criss-crossing melodies to generate harmony and interest, the bands are different in just about every other way. Masada delighted the audience with its composed lines based on Eastern European (in Zorn’s language, “Jewish”) scales, and an interaction that was playful, sometimes aggressive, and spontaneous, often based on gestures and direction from Zorn.
The band brought to mind a litter of two-month-old puppies having the times of their lives.
They dashed in circles, nipping at each other’s tails. They barked and growled, they scampered and leapt. If Douglas used to seem like the more lyrical horn and Zorn the troublemaker (at Big Ears again wearing his signature camouflage pants), then time has put them on equal footing, with the trumpet every bit as zesty as the alto. Baron remains a firecracker, hunched over the drum kit in delight, and Cohen is the rock-solid ground, but slippery too — swinging but plenty full of fire. Like puppies, the band seemed tired out before an hour of play was complete, but it was almost 1 a.m. with one more day left in a festival full of explosive music.
Here’s what the quartet sounded like a quarter century ago. Go forward to about 5:30 to hear the band chase and interact with true gusto.
In 2026, the band still sounds like no other. Zorn would form other bands to play his expansive book of “Masada” tunes (Electric Masada and New Masada Quartet with guitarist Julian Lage as the second “horn”), but I was introduced to this side of Zorn’s playing — particularly his fascination with the intersection of his music with his Jewish heritage (on his mother’s side) — by the band with Douglass, Cohen, and Baron.
For folks who love the sound of Masada, there are other wonderful trails to follow. Zorn’s work is there, of course, with many other ensembles. But I also recommend that you check out:
Dave Douglas’s Tiny Bell Trio, which was recorded at the same time as Masada and featured Balkan and Eastern European influences
The band Pachora (Chris Speed on reeds, with bassist Skúli Sverrisson, as well as guitarist Brad Shepik and drummer Jim Black from Douglas’s Tiny Bell Trio)
Drummer Jim Black’s band AlasNoAxis, with Speed and Sverrisson, as well as guitarist Hilmar Jensson
This was some of the most vital and original jazz of the 1990s.
On stage at Big Ears, the 30 years since Masada (and these other threads of daring jazz) got started melted away for a couple of hours. But these great musicians are hardly tired in the larger sense. Zorn was all over the festival, playing and organizing music. And so was Douglas, promoting his label, Greenleaf, and leading his “Gifts” quintet — with the powerhouse line-up of saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, cellist Tomeka Reid, guitarist Rafiq Bhatia, and drummer Ian Chang — in the last act of the weekend in Knoxville’s Bijou Theater.
Heck, I ran into an energetic Dave Douglas in the Knoxville airport at 5:15 a.m. the next morning! My interview with him about the new band and its album will be published soon.
As for my larger experience at Big Ears, stay tuned to this newsletter!