Featured in this concert are alto saxophonist Duru Tuna, tenor saxophonist Serhan Erkol, pianist Ali Perret, guitarist Bora Çeliker, bassist Raci Pişmişoğlu and drummer Berke Özgümüş. In my blog on a concert in February this year that involved Raci Pişmişoğlu and Ali Perret, I said the following:
‘Guitarist Raci Pişmişoğlu is the ultimate relaxed dude… A native of İzmir, this grand old man of the guitar began playing jazz with various groups in the late 1980s. From 1995 to 2004 he taught in the Jazz Department of Bilgi University, where he contributed his knowledge and experience to an up-and-coming generation of musicians… Though this was the first time I had heard him play, it did not take long for me to realise that for Raci Pişmişoğlu accompanying polytonal free jazz is a mere bagatelle.’
‘Ali Perret, meanwhile, was responsible for training up a large number of the fine young Turkish jazz pianists we hear today while he was teaching in the Jazz Department of Bilgi University – a department that he helped found. An expert both at laying down mainstream jazz and at providing musically appropriate accompaniment to free improvisations, he has a versatile aesthetic that is all his own.’
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
