ILHAN ERSAHIN'S ISTANBUL SESSIONS
İstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey | INDIE
Music
Press
February 28, 2010, 6:00 AM
By YIGAL SCHLEIFER
Along with vibrant cultural and night-life scenes, another thing New York and Istanbul share in common is the talent of the saxophonist and impresario Ilhan Ersahin. Born in Stockholm, Mr. Ersahin now lives in New York, where in 2002 he opened Nublu, a small downtown club known for its eclectic programming and general good times (he also runs a small record label with the same name). He has recorded extensively in New York and Istanbul.
For 10 days starting March 2, Mr. Ersahin — and the scene he has created at his New York club — will have a homecoming of sorts, with the first ever Nublu Jazz Festival in Istanbul. The festival will feature a grid-skipping, genre-crossing program that will bring together some of Nublu’s New York regulars with musicians from Turkey, France, England and Norway.
The Nublu sound, a mash-up that often fuses jazz with electronica, funk and hip-hop, should be on display during the festival. Appearing at the festival, among others, will be Erik Truffaz, a French trumpeter, collaborating with the vocalist Sly Johnson; Bugge Wesseltoft, a Norwegian pianist and composer who plays moody, ambient jazz; and Eddie Henderson, a fusion-influenced trumpet player who played with Herbie Hancock in the ’70s. Mr. Ersahin, who leads several combos with very different sounds, will also perform on several nights.
The festival’s shows will all be held at Babylon (Sehbender Sokak No. 3, Istanbul; 90-212-292-7368; www.babylon.com.tr; tickets start at 15 Turkish lira, or about $9.80, at 1.54 lira to the dollar), an inviting club that has been instrumental in the revival of Istanbul’s funky Beyoglu district. The club, which frequently hosts Mr. Ersahin’s performances in Istanbul, hopes to turn the festival into a neighborhood event, with a free show by the French D.J. Rubin Steiner on March 5 and, a day later, a daytime used-record market with — you can’t get this in New York, kids — free cocktails. - THE NEW YORK TIMES
Le trompettiste partage avec le saxophoniste Ilhan Ersahin l'affiche de la deuxième soirée du festival Banlieues bleues. Le saxophoniste Ilhan Ersahin, agitateur turc de la nouvelle scène new-yorkaise, fondateur du label Nublu, invite dans son quartette Istanbul Sessions le trompettiste Erik Truffaz et le violoncelliste Vincent Segal, tous deux par ailleurs manipulateurs d'électronique et d'effets divers. D'Istanbul à New York, leurs concerts ressemblent à des transes ou à des cérémonies, pour un public, dit Truffaz , « de 20 ans à... ». Ils seront, samedi 13 mars, à l'Espace Fraternité d'Aubervilliers pour la deuxième soirée du festival Banlieues bleues, organisé en Seine-Saint-Denis jusqu'au 16 avril. - Le Monde
“Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions, proceeded to show a seen-it-all-before crowd of European jazz festival promoters, club owners and media just how you can excite and grab a new audience by the scruff of its neck without compromising the integrity of the music, or intensity of improvisation. Swedish/Turkish musician, has conjured a highly distinctive new sound that connects the dense modal funk of Miles Davis’ Agartha group with the dervish whirl of Turkish and middle-eastern melodies and spikes it with a potent shot of dub electronics." - Jon Newey, JAZZWISE - JAZZWISE
Discography
===Albums====
Ilhan Ersahin "Home" 1997 (golden horn)
Ilhan Ersahin "Our Song" 1998 (golden horn)
Ilhan Ersahin "Virgo" 2000 (doublemoon)
Wax Poetic "Wax Poetic" 2000 (atlantic)
Ilhan Ersahin "Wonderland" 2002 (doublemoon)
Love Trio "Love Trio" 2003 (nublu)
Wax Poetic "nublu sessions" 2004 (ultra)
Our Theory (feat Erik Truffaz) "our theory" 2006 (nublu)
Love Trio in Dub (feat. U-Roy) 2006 (nublu)
Wax Poetic "Copenhagen" 2006 (nublu)
Wax Poetic "Brasil" 2007 (nublu)
Wax Poetic "Istanbul" 2007 (nublu)
Nublu Orchestra conducted by Butch Morris 2007 (nublu)
I led 3 lives "Peace Now!" 2009 (nublu)
Ilhan Ersahin's Istanbul Sessions "feat. Erik Truffaz" 2010 (nublu)
Ilhan Ersahin "Afternoon in Rio" 2011 (nublu)
Ilhan Ersahin's Istanbul Sessions "Night Rider" 2012 (nublu)
===upcoming===
Ilhan Ersahin's Wonderland "Istanbul, Istanbul" (with Husnu Senlendirici, Jane Birkin & Gilberto Gil)
Wax Poetic "On a ride"
===as composer===
Norah Jones single "thinking about you" single
Photos
Bio
If Radiohead was playing jazz, they would sound like this
Erik Truffaz, Blue Note artist
"Hear this! Jazz has changed form" - Le Monde
" x x x x " - Mondomix
In the grand continuum of the ever progressing Nublu Sound, acclaimed saxophonist and composer Ilhan Ersahin presents Night Rider, the second album from his internationally praised Istanbul Sessions project.
Founder of Nublu Records and the renowned East Village nightclub of the same name, Ersahin again brings together the sounds of east and west to produce something new and vital, further perfecting a style first introduced with Ilhan Ersahin's Istanbul Sessions with Erik Truffaz. Now recording as a quartet, Istanbul Sessions' Night Rider combines Ersahin's free-form avant-jazz riffs skillfully and seamlessly with the exotically flavored grooves conjured by Istanbul bassist Alp Ersonmez, drummer Turgut Alp Bekoglu, and percussionist Izzet Kizil to dazzling effect.
"Our aim is to play what we're living and for us this album is sort of an explanation of the nightlife of Istanbul," says Ersahin.
Born of a Swedish mother and Turkish father, Ersahin's ties to Istanbul were established early on. For the last 15 years he has traveled there regularly, playing gigs with local artists, absorbing the atmosphere and interpreting it through his own unique musical lens. He formed Istanbul Sessions with Ersonmez, Bekoglu, and Kizil four years ago for an art event.
The sound they created together worked so well that they went on to perform at a variety of prestigious venues including Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Quasimodo (Berlin), Babylon (Istanbul), A38 (Budapest), Dock des Suds (Marseille), MITO (Torino), Fashing (Stockholm) as well as established festivals such as Summerstage (New York), Rock N Coke (Istanbul), Akbank Jazz (Istanbul), Banlieues Bleues (Paris), Enjoy Jazz (Mannheim) Skopje Jazz and London Jazz ...
Night Rider is a perfect example of the magic that can happen when the best of cultures meet and something of elusive wonder is created.
This is New York City's East Village meets late-night Istanbul. Each song is a revelation of organic composition, birthed from the sometimes all-night sessions in the clubs of Istanbul, and together they create a series of comfortably loose, but perfectly deep vibes that melt the listener into a state of nocturnal delirium. Jump in and take a midnight ride with Ilhan Ersahin's
Istanbul Sessions.
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