Ernest Turner, 28, has returned to the Raleigh music scene after a four year tenure teaching at East Carolina University. Ernest Turner, a native from Durham, NC, has been an active member of the New Orleans and NC music scenes since 1999. Studying classical music (with his mother)and involved in many musical groups from the age of 4, Ernest naturally joined band- and eventually jazz band-in middle school, which further developed his love for music. At the time a brass player, Ernest thought his career in music was to be as a trumpeter, but his newly started lessons with Barbara Cooke, his mother's former college piano instructor, would change all that. He credits Cooke for not only broadening his understanding of music, but for also fostering a deeper love and appreciation for music.

Turner's involvement in music throughout high school eventually led him to Loyola University, where he received his B.M. in jazz studies, and later University of New Orleans, where he obtained his M.M. in jazz studies. It was here the young pianist learned the commitment necessary to sharpen his craft, and also encountered  two of the strongest influences of his musical career, jazz pianist Michael Pellera and classical pianist John Murphy.

While in New Orleans Ernest had the pleasure of playing and befriending many great jazz musicians, including Delfeayo, Jason and Ellis Marsalis, Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Adonis Rose, Ed Peterson, Harold Batiste, Steve Masakowski, Tony Dagradi, Johnny Vidacovich, Brice Winston, John Mahoney and Michael Pellera.

Ernest is a former member of the jazz faculty at East Carolina University and is also involved in various musical endeavors in the North Carolina area, including, most recently, an international tour with North Carolina saxophonist Brian Horton and recording as a sideman on Steeplechase Records with Stephen Riley, Jason Marsalis and Neal Caine.

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