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Pianist And Composer Ernest Turner Shares His Americana

A photo of Ernest Turner
Courtesy of Ernest Turner

Pianist Ernest Turner’s latest album is an ode to black American music. “My Americana” came out earlier this month, and it features jazz compositions by Stevie Wonder, Fats Waller, Kenny Kirkland and other African-American artists. Instead of playing classic jazz standards, Turner chose to highlight black composers. 

The musician talks to host Frank Stasio about the album and about his musical background. Turner’s mother was a piano teacher, and he grew up surrounded by music. He studied jazz in New Orleans in college, but he learned most of his skills from playing out in the music community.

Turner performs in studio with Jonathan Curry on the drums and Lance Scott on the bass. Turner is performing with the Lenora Helm Big Band on Tuesday, March 26 at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham. He is performing with the Brian Horton Quartet on Saturday, March 30 at the Sharp 9 Jazz Club in Durham.

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Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.