Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,660 at the 2020 census. At city entrances from state routes, county roads, and U.S. highways, the city slogan of "We Honor Our Champions" is ...
, United States – January 17, 2001,
Kettering, Ohio
Kettering is a city in Montgomery county in the U.S. state of Ohio. Almost entirely in Montgomery County, it is an inner suburb of Dayton, Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 57,862 (down slightly from 58,453 in 2010), maki ...
) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
flautist and saxophonist.
Biography
Turney began his career in the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, playing in
territory band
Territory bands were dance bands that crisscrossed specific regions of the United States from the 1920s through the 1960s. Beginning in the 1920s, the bands typically had 8 to 12 musicians. These bands typically played one-nighters, six or seven n ...
s such as the
Jeter-Pillars Orchestra
Jeter-Pillars Orchestra was an American jazz troupe, led by altoist James Jeter and tenor-saxophonist Hayes Pillars.
Career
Jeter and Pillars were previously members of Alphonso Trent's big band. After that outfit split in 1933 they formed the g ...
. He played with
Tiny Bradshaw
Myron Carlton "Tiny" Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958) - accessed July 2010 was an American in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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before moving to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he performed with the
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...
Orchestra in 1945-1946. Turney had little luck in New York, however, and returned to Ohio to play in local ensembles through the 1950s. He toured with
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
in 1967 traveling to the Far East and Australia, then was hired by
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
, in whose orchestra he played from 1969 to 1973. He was hired to play alto saxophone as an "insurance policy" due to the declining health of
Johnny Hodges
Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on soprano ...
. He was the first flute soloist to ever play in Ellington's orchestra. He also played tenor saxophone in the band. Amongst his own compositions was "Chequered Hat", written in tribute to Hodges.
Following his tenure with Ellington, he played with the
Savoy Sultans The Savoy Sultans was the name of two related 20th-century American jazz ensembles.
Savoy Sultans (1937–1946)
The original Savoy Sultans were formed by saxophonist Al Cooper, and played at the Savoy Ballroom from 1937 to 1946. This small swing ja ...
and the Newport All-Stars, as well as in several pit orchestras. In the 1980s, he toured and recorded as a member of the Oliver Jackson Quintet, with Ali Jackson,
Irvin Stokes
Irvin Stokes (born November 11, 1926, Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American jazz trumpeter.
Stokes moved to New York City in 1947 and recorded with a Charlie Singleton sextet in 1949. Throughout the 1950s he worked in the big bands of Tiny B ...
kidney failure
Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
in 2001, at the age of 79.
Discography
As leader
* 1978: ''I Let a Song'' with
Booty Wood
Mitchell W. Wood, better known as Booty Wood (December 27, 1919 – June 10, 1987) was an American jazz trombonist.
Career
Wood played professionally on trombone from the late 1930s. He worked with Tiny Bradshaw and Lionel Hampton in the 1940s ...
,
Aaron Bell Aaron Bell may refer to:
* Aaron Bell (musician)
Samuel Aaron Bell (April 24, 1921 – July 28, 2003) was an American jazz double-bassist.
Career
Bell was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on April 24, 1921. He played piano as a child and learned to pl ...
,
Sam Woodyard
Sam Woodyard (January 7, 1925 – September 20, 1988) was an American jazz drummer.
He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States. Woodyard was largely an autodidact on drums and played locally in the Newark, New Jersey area in the 1940s. ...
,
Raymond Fol
Raymond Fol (April 28, 1928 in Paris – May 1, 1979 in Paris) was a French jazz pianist.
Fol's older brother was Hubert Fol, and both were raised in a musical household; Raymond began playing piano at five years of age. Fol and his brother played ...
* 1993: ''Big, Sweet 'n Blue'' with
Larry Willis
Lawrence Elliott Willis (December 20, 1942 – September 29, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, and avant-garde jazz, avant-garde.
Willis was b ...
,
Walter Booker
Walter Booker (December 17, 1933 – November 24, 2006) was an American jazz musician. A native of Prairie View, Texas, Booker was a reliable bass player and an underrated stylist. His playing was marked by voice-like inflections, glissandos and ...
, and
Jimmy Cobb
Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb (January 20, 1929May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was a ...
Jodie Christian
Jodie Christian (February 2, 1932 – February 13, 2012) - accessed February 14, 2012 was an American jazz pianist, n ...
*''
Front Line
A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...
'' (Delmark, 1996)
With
Roy Eldridge
David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from t ...
Red Richards
Charles Coleridge "Red" Richards (October 19, 1912, New York City – March 12, 1998, Scarsdale, New York) was an American jazz pianist.
Biography
Richards began playing classical piano at age ten and concentrated on jazz from age sixteen after h ...
Randy Weston
Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.
Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious M ...
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
, 1973)
References
;Footnotes
;General references
*
Scott Yanow
Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref>
Biography
Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles.
Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...
,
Norris Turney
Norris Turney (September 8, 1921, Wilmington, Ohio, United States – January 17, 2001, Kettering, Ohio) was an American jazz flautist and saxophonist.
Biography
Turney began his career in the American Midwest, Midwest, playing in territory bands ...
at
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...