Mark Turner Quartet: Lathe of Heaven

Mark Turner's steady rise to the front ranks of contemporary improvisers is testament to a unique combination of attitude, ability, sound and imagination. Inventive and subtly unpredictable, the tenor saxophonist gets calls from everyone from Kurt Rosenwinkel to Billy Hart, but the call they all want is the one from Manfred Eicher. Turner's debut as leader for Eicher's artist-focused ECM label is a set of original compositions played by trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The saxophonist's fragmentary, Shorter-ish tunes provide launch pads for a free-wheeling set which crackles with the sort of collective energy one associates with Miles Davis' 1960s quintet – two horns full of melodic adventure and a scorching rhythm section orchestrating it all. An auspicious label debut from a master musician. propermusic.com