Mark Turner, Jason Palmer, Joe Martin, Jonathan Pinson

CD version. Patternmaster is the second ECM album by the pianoless quartet of tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, following Return From The Stars (2022) with the same line-up. Six Turner originals balance tightly written themes against long, free-ranging solos. The title comes from Octavia E. Butler's 1976 science fiction novel, whose ruler is the most powerful of a race of telepaths. Turner links the idea to the heightened intuition between players who have spent years together on the road.

Beside Turner are trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Jonathan Pinson. Without piano or guitar, the two horns carry melody and harmony, while bass and drums answer them on equal terms. "The more you trust, the more chances you can take and the deeper you can go with people," Turner says. The album was recorded in April 2024 at Studios La Buissonne in Pernes-les-Fontaines, with Gérard de Haro engineering, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

The opening title track is a contrafact of Wayne Shorter's Pinocchio, from the 1967 Nefertiti sessions of the Miles Davis quintet. Turner wrote it around the time of Shorter's death as a tribute, and set an angular unison theme over a bouncing groove. Lehman's Lair is named after saxophonist Steve Lehman and takes off from one of his pieces, with simpler, singable lines. The closing Supersister, first recorded in a sparer form by the trio Fly on Sky & Country (2009), now runs past twelve minutes. It opens on a drum and bass figure from Pinson, moves through several sections and a key change, and makes room for a bass solo.

Reviews were strong on both sides of the Atlantic. In The Guardian John Fordham heard "classic Birth of the Cool jazz tunes gliding over the polyrhythmic grooves of the 21st century", and thought it might even have the edge on the previous album. Matt Collar of AllMusic pointed to the minor-key drive of Lehman's Lair and the "warm, late afternoon glow" of The Happiest Man On Earth. Several critics noted how often Turner, usually a cool and floating player, is pushed here into more fiery playing.

This is the CD edition, ECM 2835, released in March 2026.