Dean in Calistoga (and points north)

Review by Jason Dean
St. Helena Start

Twice I've found myself strolling up Lincoln Avenue on a Friday evening near the Silverado Inn listening to what sounded like a jazz trio.

I heard a steady drizzle of jaunty piano lines, accompanied by strong, soulful vocals. Then, the trumpet fell in for a few bars.

"Man, this band is tight," I thought. "These guys are really together."

Then, as I stopped at the open window of the tavern, I peered in and saw John Turk sitting at the piano. With his left hand banging out chords and his right hand pressing a trumpet to his lips, Turk was ably accompanying…himself.

Lost of people play more than one instrument, but at the same time?

I found myslef glancing at the floor, half-expecting his feet to take off on a tap routine.

Far from being a freak show, Turk is an accomplished musician who was taught piano by his mother, a church pianist at an early age. He added trumpet to his repertoire when he was 12 and began playing the two together years later.

"I never did it as a trick," he said. "It was a spontaneous thing. I was playing a song on trumpet and wanted to hear the background part but nobody else was around to play it."

A native of Vallejo, Turk started his music career as a trumpet player and musical director for blues artist Jimmy McCracklin. Over the years, he has accompanied Lou Rawls, Esther Phillips and Etta James and has played large venues like Concord Pavilion and Madison Square Garden.

For the past several years, Turk has been musical director at Glide Memorial Church, led by Reverend Cecil Williams, in San Francisco. Williams, actove in the San Francisco political scene, organizes Christmas food giveaways to the hungry in the Tenderloin district.

Now living in Oakland, Turk also fronts his own band (he apparently has not yet learned to play an upright bass and drums simultaneously) which plays clubs in Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose.

Turk says it was during the techno explosion of drum machines and computer music in the 1980s, when any dance hall poser could program a few bars to repeat indefinitely over a hackneyed live vocal, that he was persuaded by friends to pursue his peculiar brand of self-contained entertainment.

Turk does utilize drum mahcines and some synthesizers during his solo shows in the big cities, but he prefers the more authentic acoustic sound for his stints in the Napa Valley.

Turk, who claims he forgot his age "many years ago," enjoys escaping to wine country for his weekend shows.

"The people are really receptive and it's always nice to play where people like you."

John Turk | P.O. Box 5255 | Oakland, California  94605
Email inquiries