Arturo Sandoval at the Zorlu Center,
October 8 (36th Akbank Jazz Festival)
Image: University of Miami News
Zorlu Performing Arts Center
(Performans Sanatları Merkezi – ‘PSM’)
Levazım Mah., Vadi Cad. No 2, Zincirlikuyu,
Beşiktaş, 34340 Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 912 37 76
+90 850 222 67 76
info@zorlupsm.com
https://www.zorlupsm.com/en/events
The Zorlu Center in Zincirlikuyu (south of Levent) is a vast shopping mall containing performance spaces of various sizes plus a jazz club (‘Touché By N Kolay’) and their ‘Studio 100%’. All the performance spaces are within the ‘PSM’ (Performans Sanatları Merkezi – ‘Performing Arts Centre’). The Zorlu Center can be accessed via a long subterranean corridor leading from within the Gayrettepe metro station on the M2 line. If travelling by metrobus, get off at Zincirlikuyu and go along the subterranean corridor that takes you from the metrobus stop to the Gayrettepe metro station. Then follow the signs for the Zorlu Center within this corridor. In addition, buses and minibuses from Beşiktaş to Levent (some of which go on to Maslak) stop outside the Zorlu Center.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 03
36th Akbank Jazz Festival:
James Carter Piano Quartet (‘Coltrane: A Centennial Supreme’)
“Music and life are inseparable; my elders taught me that music is a culture and a way of life,” says the Detroit-born saxophone virtuoso James Carter. Raised on recordings by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and having shared the stage with Wynton Marsalis at a young age, Carter is regarded as one of the most distinctive figures of his generation with his high-energy approach to music, moving effortlessly between tenor, alto and soprano saxophones.
Carter, who has released numerous albums on labels such as Blue Note, EmArcy and Atlantic, is a guest of the 36th Akbank Jazz Festival. His concert at the Turkcell Platinum Stage in the Zorlu PSM is one of the events of his ‘Coltrane: A Centennial Supreme’ tour.
Reflecting on this special performance, created in celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth, Carter says: “We need to focus not only on Coltrane’s immense musical legacy but also on the spirit that brought these works to life. The greatest purpose of this group is to honour Coltrane’s legacy and accompany his spirit through these performances.”
James Carter is joined on October 3rd by Gerard Gibbs (piano), Hilliard Greene (bass) and Alex White (drums).
Zorlu Center Turkcell Platinum Stage (i.e., Theatre)
20.30 (doors open 19.30)
Tickets from Passo
Prices: 1000TL, 1500TL, 2000TL (students 500TL)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 07
36th Akbank Jazz Festival:
Act Night: Dhafer Youssef: ‘Shiraz’
From his first musical training within the Sufi tradition in Tunisia to becoming one of the most distinctive musical figures of his time, Dhafer Youssef has long transcended genre boundaries with his work, which blends jazz with global music and spiritual exploration. Through his music, which unites the Arab musical tradition with contemporary approaches, he has collaborated with internationally-acclaimed musicians such as Marcus Miller, Herbie Hancock and Eivind Aarset. Shiraz (2025), Youssef’s first album as a bandleader (released on the ACT label), offers an introspective journey shaped around love, gratitude, light and shadow. Dedicated to his wife, Shiraz Fradi, the album reflects the couple’s deep connection and the life they have shared together. On Shiraz, Youssef approaches the oud with all the sensitivity that is required to play a chamber music instrument, while his devotional-sounding vocals and delicate falsetto passages engage in an intricate dialogue with the trumpet, piano, bass and drums, as well as with Nguyên Lê’s guitar and sound designs.
Dhafer Youssef takes the stage on October 7 as part of the ACT Night series, presented as the result of a collaboration between the 36th Akbank Jazz Festival and ACT Music.
Dhafer Youssef (oud and vocals) is accompanied by Daniel Garcia (piano), Mario Rom (trumpet), Swaeli Mbappé (bass guitar) and Tao Ehrlich (drums).
Zorlu Center Turkcell Platinum Stage (i.e., Theatre)
20.30 (doors open 19.30)
Tickets from Passo
Prices: 1000TL, 1500TL, 2000TL (students 500TL)
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 08
36th Akbank Jazz Festival:
Arturo Sandoval
A defining figure in the history of jazz, Arturo Sandoval is a versatile composer and performer who masterfully blends Afro-Cuban music and jazz with classical music traditions. A student of the legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and a founding member of the groundbreaking group Irakere, Sandoval played a pivotal role in the transformation of Cuban music. A 10-time Grammy Award-winning musician, Sandoval has built a remarkable career not only through his virtuosity on the trumpet and flugelhorn but also through his work as a composer and arranger, having collaborated with a wide range of artists from Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra to Celia Cruz and Alicia Keys. Through his trumpet concertos, performances with symphony orchestras and compositions for film projects, he has developed an interdisciplinary approach to music.
Described by the London Evening Star as ‘the kind of virtuoso who appears only once or twice in a generation,’ he is accompanied on October 8 by Lisandro Pidre (piano), William Brahm (guitar), Daniel Feldman (drums), Maximilian Gerl (bass), Michael Tucker (saxophone), Samuel Torres (percussion), Keith Fiala (trumpet) and Larry Bustamante (baritone saxophone).
Zorlu Center Turkcell Platinum Stage (i.e., Theatre)
20.30 (doors open 19.30)
Tickets from Passo
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11
36th Akbank Jazz Festival:
Savina Yannatou & Primavera en Salonico with Lamia Bedioui
Savina Yannatou embarks on a musical journey exploring the theme of water through song in Watersong (her fifth album released on the ECM label), accompanied by Primavera en Salonico – with whom she has been creating music for 32 years – and Tunisian vocalist Lamia Bedioui. The songs, sung in different languages and all associated with water, touch upon traditions and myths shaped around life and death, desire and purification, fertility and magic. As Arabic and Bedouin dialects meet the diverse languages of the Mediterranean, songs from different historical periods intertwine, while Primavera en Salonico creates its distinctive sonic world by blending traditional music with playful arrangements and free improvisation.
Savina Yannatou & Lamia Bedioui (vocals)
Primavera en Salonico: Kostas Vomvolos (kanun, accordion), Harris Lambrakis (ney), Kyriakos Gouventas (violin), Michalis Siganidis (double bass), Dine Doneff (percussion).
Zorlu Center Turkcell Platinum Stage (i.e., Theatre)
20.30 (doors open 19.30)
Tickets from Passo
Prices: 1000TL, 1500TL, 2000TL, 2500TL (students 500TL)
Arturo Sandoval at the Zorlu Center,
October 8 (36th Akbank Jazz Festival)
Image: University of Miami News
