Ken Turnbull

Biography

At the age of 17, Ken Turnbull acquired an old acoustic guitar on which he played the obligatory three chords. Two years later he heard his first Charlie Parker recording, followed by the Montgomery Brothers, George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Lambert Hendricks & Ross, and other jazz luminaries.

Somehow three chords didn't seem quite enough after that.

After many crowded years as a reporter, sub-editor and arts editor, he bought an electric guitar and began to delve into jazz theory.

Without the 'muscle memory' that young players develop for soloing, he concentrated on chord progressions, voicings and song structure.

So far, half a dozen compositions have emerged.

For the past nine years, Ken and lyricist Ann Bolton have been presenting the weekly program Jazz Life on MainFM 94.9 in Castlemaine.