"I'd never been to California or LA. In my early
twenties, I sold all of my saxophones to a store in New Jersey except for the
horn my father gave me, a 1965 Selmer Mark VI. I packed my 2002 silver Saturn
and drove west."
Saxophonist Adam Turchin's impulsive decision seven years
ago was a risky and romantic move that has proven to be a worthwhile gamble.
After performances on albums by Kendrick Lamar, The Game, and Terrace Martin,
Turchin is ready for the spotlight, writing, producing and playing ten
different instruments on his debut album, Manifest Destiny, an autobiographical
chronicle to be released through Ropeadope of his journey from Philadelphia
college life to the sunnier streets of in the City of Angels.
When Turchin arrived in Los Angeles, he found a gig trading
what he knew: saxophones. A chance encounter with saxophonist and producer
Terrace Martin changed his life. The two locked in on the intricacies of
various vintage reed instruments and Turchin found himself invited to a session
that night. Martin, a fixture on the Los Angeles jazz and R&B scene, took
the enthusiastic East Coaster under his wing and brought him around town.
Nearly half a decade into their friendship, after recording
and performing gigs such as the Soul Train Music Awards together, Martin
suggested Turchin bring his baritone saxophone to the studio "just in
case" for Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly sessions that he had been
attending for months. As the finishing touches were being put on what would
become one of the cornerstones of modern hip-hop and the bleeding edge of jazz,
which would go on to net eleven Grammy® Award-nominations, Turchin was
recruited to record on the album. Laying down baritone sax as part of the major
horn component on the Lamar's "u," Turchin was no longer just an
observer but a participant in a major musical movement.
As the studio time for the album became more prominent in
his schedule, he realized he could remain at his monotonous day job or watch
and participate in history being made; and the choice was clear -- Turchin quit
the saxophone trading gig and pursued recording and performing full time.
"That's where things changed," says Turchin. "In the early
morning after we recorded 'u,' I went home and wrote the song '5:55am.' While
the album had already been in the works for months, the TPAB sessions were
shaping how I perceived music, how I wrote music, and how I produced music --
that's where this song came from."
Two years later, Turchin has arrived with a rich album of
lush soul and orchestral swells of lysergic wanderlust. His band, which
includes Terrace Martin (whose recent Grammy® nominated album, Velvet
Portraits, Turchin was heavily involved in, playing tenor and baritone sax and
working on the administrative side also) as well as vocalists Rose Gold and
Kate Faust, is a tight ensemble, not overwhelmed by guests but instead
performed mostly by Turchin. That's not to say that he didn't get some other
highly regarded friends such as rapper Javier Starks, trumpeter Josef Leimberg,
electric guitarist Marlon Williams, and others join the project.
"The album is full of reoccurring themes, both
musically and lyrically," he says. "Musically, the album is chock
full of Easter eggs, secret passages, hidden tunnels and other fun secrets.
Melodies come and go all over."
The hip-hop funk essay "My Mind is Moving So
Crazy" features rapper Brandon Ashe and Snarky Puppy drummer Robert
"Sput" Searight, while a deconstructed and soothing version of this
appears again later as an instrumental interlude on "AE."
"Like a Ghost," shrouded in an analog crackle, is
the more subdued approach to "Coast to Coast," a track which features
Turchin's voice layered over Gold's singing on top of a warm bed of saxophones.
The tune is the soundtrack for a coin-op racecar, wet pavement flickering by in
a haze of determination, the score incrementally rising higher and higher.
"Vanished into thin air like a ghost, I hit the road when coast to
coast" Turchin sings over the simmering ensemble. "Gold Rush" is
a classic, West Coast laid back groove co-produced by Martin. "This track
is the melting pot of some of my favorite styles," Turchin explains.
"It has complex jazz chords, beautiful swirling harmonies, classic Mini
Moog funk synth lines and Terrace's West Coast 808 to pull it all together."
"Everything is very intertwined. It's an album for
people who like to listen and catch the secrets. My voice is on every track --
background voices, percussive voices, singing. It was important for me to step
away from the saxophone become a producer and songwriter."
The album opens with the title track, a soaring swell of
horns, including trombonist JP Floyd. It is a warm welcome, full of promise and
mystery. It is a preparation for conquest while album closer
"Memories" is the culmination of Turchin's journey. Ashe returns with
a smooth, auto-tuned purr before a swarm of horns and synths swirl in,
overtaking the track with a tense free-jazz climax.
The saxophonist/producer collaborated with his road-trip
partner, sculptor John Souter, on the cover art. Turchin wrestled with how to
portray destiny when he remembered a bouquet of fake flowers his father hastily
compiled for his mother when he was a child. A bouquet that still sits in his
family's home. "Destiny is eternal. Destiny is a still life. A flower is a
moment in time, enjoy it while you can. A flower is beautiful and living. You
can appreciate it, smell it and move on but a silk flower is eternal. It can't
die. It is a still life too. The fake flower is destiny." From there, the
two worked together on the sculpture that graces the album's cover - created in
one day, one drop at a time,
Apart from his work with Souter, Turchin teamed up with
painter Jackie Stanton to create a painting for each major track on the album
-- she also constructed a much larger painting while Turchin and Souter worked
on the sculpture, replicating their creation -- expanding on the idea of the
silk flower and the dreams that await those willing to take a chance. "I
am a musician and my specialty is in music however I can't be held within just
music. I'm interested in mixed media, cross-boundary ideas. This is not just an
album of music. In my mind, this is a destination where all different forms of
art meet."
Clearly, Turchin has no regrets about his decision to head
west. He has found a welcoming community and they have helped to nurture his
unique voice amid the clamor. He is possessed by the spirits of soul, rock,
funk, jazz and hip-hop in a city that embraces all of those sounds.
"Where else can you drive from the beach to the mountains
during a day?" he asks. "I feel like anything is possible here. I
feel like there is a time-space continuum that exists nowhere else in the
world. In LA, anything can happen in any amount of time. People get old
quickly, they can stay young forever. That's an exciting feeling."
Adam Turchin · Manifest Destiny
Ropeadope Records
· Release Date: April 28, 2017
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