[Trombone-l] Tommy Turk

[Stan Brager]

Tommy Turk was indeed one of the top early trombonists who played an 
exciting brand of be-bop. I have the LP of the 1949 JATP concert. The 
players were:

Roy Eldridge - trumpet
Tommy Turk - trombone
Charlie Parker - alto
Flip Phillips, Lester Young - tenor
Hank Jones - piano
Ray Brown - bass
Buddy Rich - drums

The date was September 18, 1949 at Carnegie Hall.

The tunes on the LP are: The Opener, Lester Leaps In, Embraceable You, and 
The Closer.

Here's what the liner notes say about Turk:

"Trombonist Tommy Turk was one the very few JATP musicians who was not a 
major national figure. [Norman] Granz found him in his native Pittsburgh and 
he made a couple of tours with JATP. After this tour he returned to 
Pittsburgh where he continued to be a popular local attraction. By the late 
1960's he had moved to Las Vegas and died there in 1982, after being shot by 
a gunman in a hold-up. His playing owes much to Bill Harris, although his 
bumptious style lacks the subtlety of his role model."

I hope this answers your questions.

Stan
Stan Brager

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Hanson" <jazzdude39 at comcast.net>
To: <trombone-l at samford.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 10:44 AM
Subject: [Trombone-l] Tommy Turk


I was recently going through my many CD's and ran across one with the little 
known trombonist Tommy Turk on a Norman Granz, Jazz at the Philharmonic 
recording. Also at this event was Charlie Parker as I remember but have lost 
the jeweled box it came in, that lists all the players.

This was performed in 1949 long before I heard jazzers like Frank Rosolino 
and J.J. Johnson. Anyone on this list familiar with Tommy Turk ?

Happy New Year all !

Dave Hanson
Atlanta