Saxophonist Stephen Riley and pianist Ernest Turner present a poignantly beautiful set of originals and standards on new album Original Mind.

Recorded in a beautiful house on the West side of Vancouver, the sound quality is absolutely wonderful, capturing every single nuance, while the interplay between the two musicians is purely magic.

Hailing from North Carolina, Stephen Riley began playing saxophone at the age of 10 and began listening and absorbing the sounds of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins and Lester Young.

He said: “I’ve known Ernest for about 15-16 years and met him when I was on the Steeplechase label. I was pushing for working with Ernest, who I’d recorded with as part of a quartet, for a duet record. But the label wanted to something different, to spice things up a little bit and keep it “fresh”, by introducing new musicians… I prefer to keep with guys I play with all the time and have a musical connection with.

"From day one we just clicked and  speak a musical language. So, when I was offered the chance to make a record with Cellar Live Records, I thought this was the opportunity.”

“Since we met,” adds Ernest, “Stephen has been big on trying to get us to record and when Cory Weeds approached him he reached out to me.”

Award-winning  pianist and composer Earnest Turner’s professional career has spanned 20 years, and has included performances and recordings with some of the biggest names in jazz and pop music, including Delfeayo Marsalis, John Legend, Raphael Saadiq, and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

“The best results always come from when there’s two musicians who respect each other,” says Turner. “Stephen very much let me do my own thing while he did his and we just met in the middle somewhere. There is enough commonalities between what we play, so never really detract from each other. “It’s not work at all, it’s just freedom to create.”

TRACKS

Doris

Among My Souvenirs

Beautiful Moon Ago

J

Namely You

Sophisticated Lady

Light Blue

Turnin’

Blessed Assurance