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Artist
Turk Mauro
12+ albums
saxophonejazz
about
Controversial saxophonist Turk Mauro was born in New York City on June 11, 1944. Born to a family of first-generation Italian-Americans, he first experienced jazz when his father, Dominick Turso, performed with local swing bands in his neighborhood. Mauro (real name: Mauro Turso) would follow his father around at gigs, idolizing Louis Armstrong and other jazz musicians of the time. He began to play the alto saxophone at 14, joining the musician's union only one year later. He would hang around restaurants that his favorite musicians were known to hang out in, eventually meeting his mentor, trumpet player Henry Allen. Allen started getting Mauro gigs around the city until he graduated from high school in 1962. Mauro began work in a bank mailroom, but he could not leave music for long and eventually started playing in jazz bands again. He married in 1965, but his relationship with his wife was strained by a life on the road and two children he was not around to take care of. He lost touch with his daughters after the marriage fell apart in the mid-'70s, but he continued to tour and play. He met Billy Mitchell, a member of Dizzy Gillespie's band, while playing in a club one night. That chance meeting led to a few performances with Gillespie himself, and eventually a permanent spot with Buddy Rich's band. His reputation as a perfectionist made him a popular sideman in the New York area, and he managed to release a debut album in 1977, The Underdog. This scored him a job at th
