Steve Turre
| Steve Turre | |
|---|---|
Steve Turre performing in 2010
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Stephen Johnson Turre |
| Born |
September 12, 1948 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, arranger, educator |
| Instruments | Trombone, conch shells |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Labels | Verve, Telarc, HighNote, Smoke Sessions |
| Associated acts | Sanctified Shells, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Carlos Santana, Ray Charles |
| Website | steveturre |
Steve Turre (né Stephen Johnson Turre; born 12 September 1948 Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist, a pioneering musical seashell virtuoso, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level who, for fifty-three years, has been active in jazz, rock, and Latin jazz – in live venues, recording studios, television, and cinema production. As a studio musician, Turre is among the most prolific living jazz trombonists in the world. As a member of a television orchestra, this is Turre's thirty-third year as trombonist with the Saturday Night Live Band.
In 1968, Turre played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. In 1970 he recorded with Carlos Santana, and in 1972 he toured with Ray Charles. He has been trombonist for the Saturday Night Live band since 1985 and has taught jazz trombone at the Manhattan School of Music since 1988.
For forty-six years (since 1970), Turre has been an exponent of seashells – conch in particular – as serious musical instruments. According to Turre, Kirk encouraged him when he began experimenting. He has a collection of shells of various sizes, most of them picked up during his travels in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The shells have their mouthpieces carefully cut and are tuned to specific pitches. When playing them as a soloist, he frequently switches between shells, as each is limited in its register (the smallest shells, for example, have a practical register of only a fifth). His largest shell, from the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, has a range between the D and E below middle C, and was painted by a Cuban artist. He also leads "Sanctified Shells," which is a "shell choir" made up of brass players who double on seashell (using shells from Turre's collection, which he loans out for rehearsals and performances). The group released its first, eponymous album in 1993. Turre has had a long experience with Latin jazz and is a skilled player of the cowbell and Venezuelan maracas.
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