Norris Turney; Member of Duke Ellington Orchestra

Norris Turney, 79, a jazz musician who played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and was an original member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Turney played alto sax, flute and clarinet and was known for his lyrical solos, primarily on the saxophone. Born in Wilmington, Ohio, Turney played in a variety of local bands before getting his first national exposure with Billy Eckstine in New York in the mid-1940s. He joined the Ellington orchestra in 1969, substituting for featured saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and was a regular member of the orchestra until 1973. In the 1980s, he was a member of promoter George Wein’s Newport All-Stars, with which he toured internationally. He joined the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in 1988 and stayed with the orchestra through 1993. Turney’s lone CD as a bandleader, “Big, Sweet ‘N Blue,” was warmly received by jazz critics. On Wednesday of kidney failure in Dayton, Ohio.