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Hal Turner, Jr. Collection

Collection Overview

  • 334 jazz charts
  • 76 scores without parts

Resources

To hear your arrangements come to life and have ten or more musicians playing behind your vocals is indescribable. As anyone in even the smallest of spotlights will tell you the adulation is a part of it. However, standing in front of a band during performances and feeling the satisfaction and joy that exudes from an audience cannot be measured on any scale

Hal Turner

Harold “Hal” Turner, Jr. (1930-2015) was active as a pianist, vocalist, vibraphonist, and arranger for many famous personalities around the country during the big band era.

Turner, born in Chicago, was intrigued from a young age with the piano on which he took lessons, claiming music to be his first love. His mother regularly took him to the theaters to see bands as they would come into town, occasionally venturing to hear a group at a local night club or hotel. He performed with many talented musicians including Art Mooney, the Kai Winding Septet, Warren Covington (who had taken over for Tommy Dorsey upon his death), Ray McKinley, and Sammy Kaye.

Turner worked in New York for 19 years, followed by 20 years in Dallas. He lived in Sun City Center, Florida where, from 2000, he worked mainly as a single. He died in Smithfield, Virginia on November 5, 2015.

This library of 334 charts, approximately 250 of which were in active use, is written for 2 trumpets, trombone, 2 altos, tenor & baritone saxes, and four rhythm instruments. There are some instances of clarinet doubling in the sax parts, with alto sax also occasionally doubling on flute. Additional parts (instrumental and vocal) are included for some charts as noted. The majority of the arrangements are by Turner with others scattered throughout. A list was supplied with the collection of active and inactive charts as well as a breakdown according to style (as noted in the lists).