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Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica
Jazz / Bossa Nova / Blues

" www.miketurk.com CDs, music samples, more info"

Boston, Massachusetts
United States

Profile Views:  3676




Last Login:  7/3/2008
View My: Pics | Videos

   Contacting Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica

 MySpace URL: 
  http://www.myspace.com/miketurkharmonicajazz  

   Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica: General Info
Member Since8/11/2007
Band Websitemiketurk.com
Band Members


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$15 USA orders
includes shipping
buy now with PAYPAL.COM

International outside USA only
20.00 USD
shipping included

Also available at:
AMAZON .COM

Mike Turk at CDBABY.COM click here
Buy Now

Gray Sargent, Bill Cunliff, Marshall Wood, John Wheatley, Joe Hunt, Tim Ray, Matt Wilson, Ronnie Earl, Alfredo Cardim, Bill Ward, John Lockwood, Bob Moses, Rico Migliarini, Mauricio Pugno, Alessandro Fabbri, Alessandro Di Puccio, Alberto Marsico, Giuliano Bei, irco Capecci....'Chicago' Mike, 'Texas' Rico, 'Panhandle' Pierpaolo, 'Oklahoma' Flavio'', 'B-B-Q' Richards





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 USA  orders only$15 USD
Shipping included


 International / overseas Orders only
Shipping included —
$20 USD

InfluencesToots Thielemans, Little Walter Jacobs, Big walter Horton, Larry Adler, Mauricio Einhorn, John Sabastian Sr., Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Gene Ammons, Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans, Grant Green, Lucky Thompson, Wes Montgomery, Red Garland, Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan,Paul Butterfield, T-Bone Walker, Kim Wilson, Jerry Portnoy, Gray Sargent, John Wheatley, Jerry Bergonzi, Alfredo Cardim, A.C. Jobim..................
Sounds Like.....Toots Thielemans meets Milt Jackson & Buddy Rich at George Shearing's house!
Record LabelTin Sandwich Record Productions
Type of LabelIndie








   Upcoming Shows ( view all )
Jul 15 2008 7:30P
Jocko’s Jazz At The Sahara Presents: Methuen, Massachusetts
Jul 23 2008 7:30P
Regattabar at the Charles Hotel Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica's Latest Blog Entry  [Subscribe to this Blog]

Mike plays on latest CD of Sharon Robinson touring with Leonard Cohen  (view more)

Check out this event: Cd Release " The Nature Of Things"  (view more)

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   About Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica

Mouth That Roared
Mike Turk website - CDs,more music - Tin Sandwich Music

Bronx-born Turk began his passion for the harmonica in his early teen years, learning licks off albums by leading Chicago blues harp exponents Paul Butterfield, Little Walter, and James Cotton. After deciding to take up the life of a professional jazz-and-blues musician, he traveled to Boston in the mid-1970s and became a fixture at many local clubs.

An untiring performer, Turk can be heard in many of the Northeast's leading clubs. Whether you hear him live or on CD, Mike Turk, it can be said without hesitation, has a unique and compelling musical talent that is all too rarely encountered these days.
Kim Field, author of "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers" has written:
"Mike Turk first made an international reputation for himself more than two decades ago as a master of the diatonic Marine Band model favored by the blues players. But as he fell into the gravitational pull of jazz, Turk turned to the chromatic harmonica, which allows the player to achieve all the notes of the chromatic scale by pushing a spring-loaded slide mechanism. . . .
..
Turk's first solo CD project, Harmonica Salad, was a brilliant travelogue of blues, jazz, standards, and several points in between, with scenery provided by a constantly changing cast of accompanists. Turk's Works is a more singleminded excursion in which Turk has set himself in the middle of a killer quintet and let the tape run. What we get is an inspired, exhilarating, and very live set of sterling jazz. No formulaic drill, no 'theme' concept passed down from the folks in Marketing, no sprint to the finish line." ..

Patience is indicative of Mike Turks career, which has taking his time so as to best get his thing together. He was born in the Bronx in 1951, the son of "a working member of Local 802," jazz bassist and vocalist Dick Richards. "I started playing harmonica in the summer of 67," he recalls, "doing the stuff that was happening in those days- blues! Paul Butterfield was my introduction. For the next 10 years, I played everything: blues, country, folk, all kinds of recordings throughout the 70s with up-and-coming New England acts that up and came and went."

Education being a lifelong process, Turk has continued to learn. He can now look back on nearly two decades of refining his jazz voice to a point where it is pure and natural. The blues roots are there... " What we get, though, is music where the ideas and the swing are unforced, where everything flows with such assurance that one forgets that Turk plays one of the jazz world's miscellaneous instruments and simply hears his harmonica as a lead voice, comfortable and in-place as the more familiar trumpet or sax."...Bob Blumenthal, Boston Phoenix

Turk continues his appreciation and respect for the reigning harmonica voice in modern jazz. "...Toots Thielemans is the guy who showed me where I could come in, where the harmonica fits as a jazz instrument," he declares, "and I like the way he just comes out and makes a statement musically, rather than having to prove what he can do in each solo"....he continues, "A preponderance of musicians of all ages come out and lay everything on the line; but, back in the 40's and 50's the guys who established modern jazz didn't play their hot stuff (all the time), they interpreted songs."

Turk uses his command of the instrument to convey every possible nuance of feeling. His trove of expressive riffs and runs has livened the soundtracks of some motion pictures, including Dick Tracy, (the latter alongside legendary pianist Jerry Lee Lewis), and Lonestar, as well as the opening credits of the new John Sayles film " Honeydripper". The Cambridge resident has also recorded with artists as diverse as the Temptations and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and supplied his distinctive tones to various network television productions.

"Mike Turk is a no-nonsense musician and the harmonica is his life. [He is] one of a rare breed who started out with the blues harp and went on to get an enviable technique on the chromatic. His home base is bebop with a healthy swinging approach. He shows familiarity with some interesting melodic scales. [He makes] a harmonica statement that should reach out beyond the harmonica audience. . .Turk is a fiery player. . . . came out of the bluesharp and assimilated the chromatic quite fluently. . . . knows his changes and aims for swing! . . . Go for it Mike!"

Toots Thielemans

"Mike Turk has applied the language of the saxophone to the harmonica in a very impressive fashion . . . it amazes me."

Jerry Bergonzi


   Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica's Friend Space (Top 40)
Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica has 157 friends.
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Mike Turk Jazz Harmonica's Friends Comments
Displaying 26 of 26 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
Jeff Pittson





Jun 27 2008 4:40 PM

:

Thanks for the add: always inspiring to hear you play: So great to hear you,,,very inspiring!
Thanks for the add: hope to take a lesson from you in the near future!

Thanks again
Jeff Pittson
Pat.Pend.





Jun 3 2008 3:06 PM

Grazie Mike, vediamo che scrivi anche un buon italiano...utti gli altri stanno bene, ma ci sei mancato per i Ceri!!! I Ceri senza Mike, sono come il caffè senza grappa...a presto!
LAZY STEP





May 19 2008 2:07 PM

"BLUES IN THE KITCHEN" the Lazy Step's brand new cd is now available!!! The boys are on the road supporting it. Check out the tour schedule!
Tom Principato





Apr 26 2008 6:52 AM

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the friend request. Long time no see. Your playing and music sounds great here. Heck, you sounded great 30 years ago when you used to come and sit in with Powerhouse!
Best wishes with your life and music,
Tom
Sharon Robinson





Mar 4 2008 11:00 PM

Hey Mike - Your album is great. And thank you for your beautiful work on mine!

Cool website too!
-Sharon
LAZY STEP





Feb 25 2008 9:07 AM

Thanks for the add.
We are honored.
I hope everything is going well in Cambridge.
Flavio
Filip Jers





Feb 22 2008 3:15 PM

Hi man! Thanks for the ad. Cool Playing! Filip
Haroldo Mauro Jr.





Jan 19 2008 5:29 AM

Great job Mike! I enjoyed listening to all tracks. Nice feeling, nice solos. Great rendition of Girl From Ipanema. Sounds like Alfredo is at the piano. Best, Haroldo
ALDO BLUES





Jan 19 2008 5:03 AM

Grazie Mike per la tua amicizia complimenti per il tuo splendido sound.Con un soffio armonico ti auguro un anno ricco di soddisfazioni.Ciao AldoBlues.
Salvatore Bonafede





Jan 19 2008 1:03 AM

Hi Mike,

glad to be your friend!

You're a marvelous musician!

Hope to meet you and play!

Sal
Roberto Lioli





Dec 19 2007 9:09 AM

hi Mike!!!
Saluti da Gubbioooooooooooo
How are you???
Rob
KJ Denhert





Oct 9 2007 8:11 AM

Hello Mike,

I grew up in the Bronx- I love your sound and would love to record sometime- it's clear that you are really talented and it would be an honor to play together. When you are in NY, I am at the 55 every two weeks- that's a great way to meet if you come to town.

Best

kj
Toots Thielemans





Oct 7 2007 1:38 PM

Thanks for the