Saxophonist Mark Turner, whose career spans two decades and encompasses a broad array of musical ventures, has emerged as a towering presence in the jazz community. His distinctive, personal tone, singular improvisational skills and innovative, challenging compositional approach, has earned him a far-reaching reputation as one of jazz’s most original and influential musical forces. Born in 1965 in Ohio and raised in Southern California, Turner grew up surrounded by music where there was a lot of R&B, jazz, soul and gospel playing in the house. As he notes, “it was in the early ’70s, when the whole integration and civil rights thing had begun to go mainstream, and my mother and stepfather were in the first wave of young black professionals and intellectuals who moved to upper- middle-class white neighborhoods. They and their friends were always going out to see live jazz. I was intrigued by that, and I was intrigued by the whole history of jazz music and African- American culture, as well as the music itself.” Nowadays, he is a leading force in this jazz tradition/culture and has released more than a dozen albums as leader, while also serving as a prolific sideman. Turner has recorded and toured with musicians as diverse as Jakob Bro, Tom Harrell, Billy Hart, Ed Simon, Enrico Rava, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Virreles, Ethan Iverson, Baptiste Trotignon and The SFJazz Collective. His 2022 release, the critically acclaimed Return from the Stars (which takes its name from Stanislav Lem’s science fiction novel), was described as “both exhilarating and thoughtful in its arc of expression, where solos flow organically out of the arrangements, and beneath the often-dazzling interplay of Turner’s tenor and Jason Palmer’s trumpet, the rhythm section Joe Martin (bass) and Jonathan Pinson (drums) roams freely. Turner will be releasing a new album this spring, which was recorded live at the Village Vanguard with this same quartet with whom he will be performing tonight.