Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Kilbourn Hall

If it isn’t the purest of jazz sounds with a nod to history, it seems Steve Turre isn’t interested. A focused and strong willed artist, trombonist Steve Turre brought his working quintet (including Texas tenor sax man Billy Harper) to Kilbourn Hall as part of the 2010 jazz festival. He carries more than a couple trombones and conch shells with him: he carries the experience he gained by playing with the best of the best such as Rashaan Roland Kirk, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Art Blakey, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie etc. Happy to share the stage with his current jazz brothers, there was a song he politely introduced as “featuring…nobody in particular” as he acknowledged the important contribution of each person on the stage Wednesday June 16.

Whether playing trombone or conch shells (which he learned his ancestors from Mexico also played), there is always power, strength and confidence in Turres’ sound and tone. The shells are actually natural seashells but the mouthpieces are carefully crafted. He controls the various shells by inserting his fingers and hands into the opening. He also alternated between his two trombones throughout the evening creating bold, authorative sounds. There was a potent version of J. J. Johnson’s “Teapot.”, and a piece written as a salute to Ray Charles called “Ray’s Collared Greens.” As the evening drew to a close, the audience and Turre were determined to stay a bit longer as he offered an encore called “Blackfoot” ( a compliment to the jazz standard “Cherokee”).