Randy Esen

By John Shakespeare Dyson | February 25, 2024


The last time I heard Randy Esen sing was in July 2019, when she was performing at Uniq Istanbul with three other musicians: her husband Aydın Esen on piano and keyboards, Tommy Campbell on drums and Greg Jones on bass guitar. In my blog on this mega-memorable gig I wrote...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

A meeting of talents: Ozan Musluoğlu Quintet’s recipe for joy

By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 19, 2023


On October 13 I attended a jazz concert by the Ozan Musluoğlu Quintet, a mixed group of Turkish and American musicians, at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall. It was, of course, Friday the 13th, so I took great care to avoid accidents, chivvying my companion so as not to...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

The real thing: a finale to raise the spirits

The Elif Göztepe Quintet, Selen Gülün Blue Band and İmer Demirer Trio put the ‘jazz’ into the Istanbul Jazz Festival

By John Shakespeare Dyson | August 29, 2023


Percussionist Can Kozlu, recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, joined the İmer Demirer Trio in the last concert of the Jazz Festival (photo: Salih Üstundağ) Looking back on the summer that was, on July 19 I attended a concert at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, the last event...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

The celestial charabanc

The Istanbul Jazz Festival in a nutshell...

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 5, 2023

Summer is upon us, and the 30th İKSV Istanbul Jazz Festival, like some celestial charabanc, is about to rev up and whisk us off to some interesting musical destinations. I need to make it clear at the outset that I have not found much jazz on the programme for this...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

There’s nothing like a rollicking evening’s jazz

The sheer artistry of Sibel Köse and friends throws doom-and-gloom to the winds

By John Shakespeare Dyson | January 30, 2023


Last Saturday I went to the Nardis Jazz Club in Galata to listen to the Turkish jazz singer Sibel Köse and her quartet. Having fortified ourselves with scrumptuous cakes at Şirin Fırın, a highly-recommended patisserie in nearby Büyük Hendek Caddesi, my companion and I wended our way through the crowds...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

NARDIS: 20th anniversary London pop-up

This month, the famous Istanbul jazz club comes to London to celebrate in style. Join the party…

By Tony Barrell | October 26, 2022


When I covered the Istanbul Jazz Festival for Cornucopia back in 2004, I paid a visit to a small jazz club called Nardis. I was immediately impressed by the place, and found myself heading back there on a couple of occasions, following a road heading downhill from the Galata Tower....
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz

Good reverberations

Notes on ‘Secret Wildflower’ and Ayna Veer, the new album from Aydın Esen and friends

By John Shakespeare Dyson | April 22, 2021


It is too long since I heard USA-based Turkish jazz pianist Aydın Esen play live. I can still recall the chromatic crunchiness of his chords. At that concert in Istanbul in July 2019 (described in my blog), I watched and listened in awe as spherical baubles of meaningful melody crystallised...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Classical Music, - Jazz

Not too late to catch the last spoonful of the Jazz Fest

By John Shakespeare Dyson | October 29, 2020


The online streaming of the İKSV Jazz Festival concerts is due to finish on November 3. You have been warned! The tap is about to run dry, so now is the time to catch up on what you have been missing at online.iksv.org.https://online.iksv.org/caz Selecting a concert at random from the...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares, Shopping

In time… Gilad Atzmon and Sarp Maden – a creative partnership

By John Shakespeare Dyson | February 29, 2020

February 20: I made my second foray into the Touché jazz club, located in the bowels of the Zorlu Center in Zincirlikuyu. The occasion was that of another concert by Gilad Atzmon, the Israeli saxophonist I'd seen in January 2019 – when he was accompanied by Sarp Maden on guitar,...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

Snarky Puppy and Shake Stew

The Istanbul Jazz Fest

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 21, 2019


The New York-based band Snarky Puppy gave a concert at the UNIQ Open-Air Stage on Tuesday July 9. The supporting group was Shake Stew, an Austrian outfit. Whether the music was jazz-rock, or funk, or groove, is immaterial: in any case, I would not be able to tell you, for...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

Touché and all that jazz

Musical Shares: Gilad Atzmon, Sarp Maden and Friends play Istanbul’s newest jazz venue

By John Shakespeare Dyson | February 3, 2019


The Gilad Atzmon / Sarp Maden Quartet – with Gilad Atzmon (above) on saxophone, Sarp Maden on guitar, Ercüment Orkut on piano, Eylem Pelit on bass guitar and Derin Bayhan on drums – performed in a curtain-raising event at Istanbul's new jazz club Touché, located beside the PSM (Performance Arts...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

Musical shares: Jazz please, Louise

Avishai Cohen's not-quite-jazz concert at the Swissôtel in Maçka

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 7, 2018

The fourth concert I attended during the İKSV Jazz Festival took place at the Sultan Park in the grounds of the Swissôtel in Maçka, above Dolmabahçe Palace, on Tuesday July 3. The performers on this occasion were the double-bassist Avishai Cohen and his group. The concert started well: Mr Cohen...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz, - Musical Shares

Musical shares: Jazz, genius and chimney pots

Night in an Italian garden – the 25th Istanbul Jazz fest (cont.)

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 3, 2018


The venue for the third concert I attended during the 25th İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival was the grounds of the Palazzo di Venezia in Beyoğlu – a building that now does service as the residence of the Italian Ambassador and the Italian Consul-General. (It is not the Consulate itself, as...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz

Musical shares: Stormy weather over the Golden Horn

Çağrı Sertel and his group crack the sky open with their screaming thunderchords

By John Shakespeare Dyson | July 2, 2018


The second concert I attended during the İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival took place at Salon İKSV (the İKSV HQ performance space) in Şişhane, Beyoğlu, on June 27. The group responsible for the music – but not for the weather outside, which was spectacularly stormy – consisted of pianist Çağrı Sertel...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz

A bow to the past: Singing Hand and other Turkish jazz legends, plus the best of the 25th fest

The 25th Istanbul Jazz Festival pays tribute to the fine musicians who put Turkish jazz on the map, plus some high notes ahead

By John Shakespeare Dyson | June 28, 2018


The Opening Concert of the İKSV İstanbul Jazz Festival – sponsored by Garanti Bank – took place at the Zorlu Center on Tuesday (June 26). The theme was ‘Turkish Jazz through the Generations on the 25th Anniversary of the Festival’, and the occasion provided your reviewer – who knew very...
Posted in Music & Performing Arts, - Jazz
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