Patternmaster (Import)

In his review of Mark Turner’s last quartet effort for ECM, 2022’s Return From The Stars, the Swiss daily Weltwoche’s Peter Rüedi described the programme as “the leanest, most concentrated, and most inspired improvised chamber music imaginable.” It’s a fitting description of the tenor saxophonist’s powerful quartet endeavours, which seem to have arrived at their most sophisticated and hard-hitting on Patternmaster, an album that in many respects feels like a continuation and expansion of the group’s last recording.

Both boundless improvisation and cool control are driving motors behind a quartet that has moulded its common musical understanding over years on the road and in the studio. “The more you trust, the more chances you can take and the deeper you can go with people,” says the leader, who feels that within this group’s chemistry he can go “beyond craft and gage into the art of music more in depth. You feel free to experiment more compositionally, without ever having to worry about what’s going to happen because you know it’s going to turn out great.”

Turner and Jason Palmer blow themes with expansive harmonic implications on top of Joe Martin on double bass and Jonathan Pinson on drums, players who intersect with the horns on a melodic, harmonic and rhythmic level with great intensity. There’s a timeless quality to these six Turner originals, one that channels the classic be-bop era while also looking to the future. Recorded in Southern France in 2024, the album was produced by Manfred Eicher.