Bruce Turner

English jazz saxophonist (alto & soprano) and clarinetist. Born: July 5, 1922 in Saltburn-by-the Sea, England. Died: November 28, 1993 in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, England. Self-taught on clarinet as a schoolboy, from 1943, he took up the alto saxophone during his war service in the RAF. Worked on the Queen Mary while it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and was taught by Lee Konitz while in New York City. On joining Humphrey Lyttelton, at Turner's first concert in 1953 at Birmingham Town Hall, Lyttelton's most committed traditionalist fans unfurled a banner stating: "Go Home Dirty Bopper!" when Turner soloed. He stayed with the trumpeter until 1957, and returned from 1970 to 1988. Meanwhile, he formed his own Jump Band in 1957 (reviving the format of 1930s small groups), which functioned until 1963, and then performed with Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band for several years. Autobiography: "Hot Air, Cool Music" (1984).