Steve Turre, trombone & shells

Teodross Avery, saxophone

Corcoran Holt, bass

Xavier Davis, piano

Orion Turre, drums

Trombonist and seashellist Steve Turre is one of the world’s preeminent jazz innovators. He has consistently won both the Readers’ and Critics’ polls in JazzTimes, Downbeat, and Jazziz. He has won awards for Best Trombone and for Best Miscellaneous Instrumentalist (shells).

Turre was born to Mexican-American parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. While living there, he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues and jazz. When in college, he joined the Escovedo Brothers salsa band, which began his career-long involvement with that genre.

In 1972 Steve Turre’s career picked up momentum when Ray Charles hired him to go on tour. A year later, Turre’s mentor Woody Shaw brought him into Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Turre then went on to work with a diverse list of musicians from the jazz, Latin, and pop worlds. These include Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Hancock, Lester Bowie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, and Van Morrison. Also, Pharoah Sanders, Horace Silver, Max Roach, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The latter introduced him to the seashell as an instrument. Soon after that, while touring in Mexico City with Woody Shaw, Turre’s relatives informed him that his ancestors similarly played the shells. Since then, Turre has incorporated seashells into his diverse musical style.

In addition to performing as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984, Turre continually evolves as a musician and arranger. He has a strong command of all musical genres. When it comes to his distinct brand of jazz, he always keeps one foot in the past and one in the future.