Meet Josh “MostHonorableWaveKing” Turner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Turner.

Josh, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like most people, I started playing in little rock band in middle school with my close friends. We would learn covers of our favorite songs at the time (Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, all the big hair metal bands) and play small shows for our friends and family. Of course, my friend (who was also the singer) told me that he was playing guitar and that I had to play bass (because drums were already taken). After I reluctantly agreed, I picked up the instrument and immediately fell in love with it. The range and the function of the instrument really resonated with me for reasons I’m still not entirely certain of. After my hair metal phase, I began to study jazz and slowly became consumed by it. I believed that if I was decent jazz musician, I would then be a phenomenal musician in any other genre (which is still kind of true) and that I would have no difficulties playing for other artists and recording sessions. After I got to high school and got into all the top bands by my second year, I decided I needed something more and enrolled myself into the Colburn School. There I met musicians that I still know and play with to this day. Colburn is the place that made me become serious about music as a career and take the college route. I decided to do my undergrad at The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). I studied with Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report, Santana) and Darek Oles (Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny). Both of these masters shaped my playing into what it is today, they taught me so much about what it is to be a working professional in this industry, and that there’s more to life than the next gig. I graduated in December, thankfully before this whole pandemic started and have been working on several projects since. Some of the projects being, Frog Nugs, Lina Kay, and Madi.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has been relatively smooth for the most part. When I first got to college, gigs were sparse, so making money and making ends meet has been difficult at times. It got easier the more comfortable I became with being true to what I actually wanted, instead of what I thought people would want. People hire me because of how I play and what I decide to play. Of course, I still fill the function of the bass, but I make it personal. I try to play every song as I wrote it.

The challenge I face now is surviving the quarantined society. Everyone is staying inside or avoiding as much contact as possible, so no one is going to shows, no one is recording, and no one has the disposable income to support artists and musicians like myself.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a live/recording bassist. I play a lot of genres in a variety of groups, but I work primarily as a Jazz and R&B bassist. In a few of these bands I work as a Musical Director and in others I do arrangements and transcriptions. Recently I have been co-writing with a couple of artists as well as co-producing. I am most proud of an album that J. Kelr & Rush Davis put out late last year called “Expensive”. I co-wrote four of the songs on the album, but my favorite on the record is “Go”. The bassline I wrote gave the song the foundation that Rush and J. Kelr beautifully built upon. I really enjoyed working with them at Truth Studios and hope to do more in the future. Another project that I am incredibly proud of would be my own project, Frog Nugs. Frog Nugs has a couple of songs released on SoundCloud but will have a full-length record coming out soon.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment I’ve had so far was opening for Chick Corea’s trio at Royce Hall. I played with a band called Platinum Nitro Charge. The performance meant a lot to me, not only because it was for the jazz giant that is Chick Corea, but because my teacher and mentor Alphonso Johnson also happened to be there and saw me perform. I think that was the performance that made him see me as a real musician and not just another student.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshturner.bandzoogle.com/
• Phone: (818) 726-7917
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themosthonorablewaveking/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jdanturner
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdanturner

Image Credit:
Ana Karotkaya

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.