I Heard From Al "The Burner" Turner!

[Ronson Hall]

Hey Folks,

You may have noticed me going on about the Solo CD by Al "The Burner" Turner ("It's Good To Have Friends" is the name of it - get it from Ken, you will enjoy it!). After hearing the CD and playing along with some of the cuts, I had a few questions for Al. Ken suggested I write him, and ask him directly, so I did.

"The Burner" wrote me back a couple of days later, answering all of my questions. What a gracious guy he is!

I was particularly interested in knowing whether he was doing his solo parts on a 5 or 6-string, as I was getting quite a workout stretching into the upper part of my neck for some of those beautifully funky parts! He informed me that indeed he was using his Ken Smith "Prototype (the first one Ken produced of its kind)" Zebrawood 6-String for all of the solo and melodic work, and then went to his favorite Ken Smith 5-string for laying down all the bass parts. I was relieved; not that I'm close to mastering this intricate stuff Al has created, but that I had figured "Man! He's got to be doing these movements on a six or seven string axe, or I'm losing it!"

A very encouraging response, in that a musician of Mr. Turner's caliber would take the time to write back to a new fan.

If you haven't heard his solo CD, you owe it to yourself to hear this gifted bassist. Send Ken some cash, and ask him to send you Al Turner & Melvin Lee Davis' (another bad, bad man!!) strong CD's!!