A tight yet flexible boundary between improvisation and control is one of the central features of this amazing, sophisticated, and engaging album from Mark Turner’s quartet. Every one of Turner’s six compositions on Patternmaster walks that line between tightly composed chamber jazz and high-wire soloing and back with jaw-dropping ease. It’s a document of a composer, bandleader and ensemble in peak form.
The album and the track that gives it its title have a story or two to tell. It comes from Octavia E. Butler’s 1976 psycho-spiritual science fiction novel of that title in which far future humanity is ruled by an all powerful telepath known as the Patternmaster. At the same time the tune is a tribute to one of Turner’s mentors, tenor master Wayne Shorter, who died around the time Turner was working on this composition. “Wayne Shorter was also kind of a ‘Patternmaster’ if you ask me,” Turner says. “He was also an avid sci-fi fan and I named the tune after him in a way. I think some musicians or artists, when they reach a high level, you could say they have psionic abilities. Abilities beyond conventional measure.”
That type of ability is definitely on display here among Turner, Jason Palmer on trumpet, bassist Joe Martin and Jonathan Pinson on drums. Drop the needle anywhere and you’re likely to hear hair-raising unison playing of intricate tunes and patterns, especially by Turner and Palmer, but also occasionally bringing in the bass and even drums, as in the final section of the episodic second track “Trece Ocho.”
The alchemy between Turner and Palmer is on display throughout, but nowhere more so than the title track, a driving progressive arrangement with an amazing bass line from Pinson. The bassist opens more than one of the tracks with a solo either rubato or driving, the latter especially impressive on “Lehman’s Lair” with its inspiring melody that Turner and Palmer take turns developing. Bass and drums lay down a relaxed but swinging groove for the horns to meander over on “The Happiest Man On Earth.” They bring the funk on the closer “Supersister,” and turn “It Very Well May Be” into a classic hard bop that puts me in mind of Freddie Hubbard and Cannonball Adderley.
What a great quartet and a great album. Highly recommended.
(ECM, 2026)
I’ve also covered Mark Turner Quartet’s Live at the Village Vanguard, and Mark Turner & Ethan Iverson’s Temporary Kings.
