Randy Esen at Bova, April 6
Wednesday, April 1
‘No Fools’: Ali Perret, Timuçin Şahin, İmer Demirer & Can Kozlu
An interesting combination of musicians, this. Pianist, composer and educator Ali Perret 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.
Guitarist and composer Timuçin Şahin, who received training in jazz guitar and classical composition in the Netherlands and at the Manhattan School of Music, has developed a double-necked guitar of his own. Liking to experiment with Indian measures and African rhythms, he has a penchant for atonal jazz – an environment in which Ali Perret and İmer Demirer, two of his fellow-performers on this occasion, are perfectly at home.
İmer Demirer is a trumpet-player of such outstanding originality that the remark made by singer Randy Esen while describing how she had chosen him to play on her latest album is entirely justified: “İmer …” she said, “Man, I mean, what can I say … he was the only choice.” Having heard him play in a gig celebrating the songs of Ayten Alpman (who was in fact his mother-in-law), I can vouch for the fact that his soaring creativity is undiminished.
Can Kozlu, trained in Grenoble and Paris, and subsequently at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, USA, is one of Turkey’s most experienced drummers. In 1996 he founded the Jazz Performance department at Bilgi University (Istanbul) together with Ali Perret. Many of Turkey’s finest drummers are his former students, and the list of famous Turkish pop stars and jazz musicians with whom he has played is an impressive one.
Saturday, April 11
20:30 Eggmann Trio 22:30 Ceren Temel
The ‘Eggmann Trio’ is the brainchild of guitarist Egemen Tosunbaş, who is also the creator of the majority of the compositions and arrangements they play; many of these are in the hard-bop and post-bop genres. Crowded Windows, the first single by the ‘Eggmann Quartet’, appeared in 2023.
Vocalist, songwriter and pedagogue Ceren Temel has a repertoire that encompasses a wide range of styles from bebop to modern jazz. She is noted for her improvisations, her own compositions and her original takes on jazz standards. 2022 saw the appearance of The Rewind – her first EP album, consisting of five of her own compositions.
Tuesday, April 21
Sarp Maden 5
Sarp Maden is one of Turkey’s finest jazz guitarists and composers. He has his own unique style that combines outlandish chords, atonal sweetness, sudden swoops and agonised gut wrenching. In my review of a concert involving him that I attended at the Touché Club in the Zorlu Centre, I wrote: ‘Even when Sarp is playing a slow, floating melody in a high register, his liquid, light-filled tone always has a wistful edge to it – a tortured timbre if ever there was one. And, of course, the atonal arpeggio outbursts are ineffably Scorpionic in their asperity (guess what sign he is?) – hunks of screaming metal hurtle towards you like out-of-control motorbikes cartwheeling through the air as they spin off the race track; indeed, you almost have to duck.’
Wednesday, April 22
Cenk Erdoğan Trio
Cenk Erdoğan, who plays the fretless guitar, has developed a technique that is influenced by traditional Turkish stringed instruments such as the bağlama and the tanbur. His playing style and his compositions, in which he combines jazz harmonies with traditional Turkish melodies, have attracted international attention: in 2004 he was invited to demonstrate his skills at the Berklee College of Music and the Queens College of Music. The recordings he has so far produced are İle (2008), Kavis (2011), Kara Kutu (2014), Fermata (2018) and Lahza II (2019).
Sunday, April 26
Randy Esen & friends
Randy Esen, the wife of jazz pianist and composer Aydın Esen and the mother of musicians Cenk and Aykan, is a highly experienced jazz singer. For many years, she has also served as a pedagogue; her pupils include many fine young singers on the Turkish jazz scene, one of these being Elif Çağlar. After attending a concert by Randy two years ago, I praised her for the elegance of her gestures and her ability to ‘dance up and down the various vocal registers with ease, swooping effortlessly from high to low with zero loss of tone.’ What made the strongest impression, however, was her stage presence: I said that ‘her unerring sense of drama allows her to move from light and breathy sweetness to full-throated passion, then back again to a muted and wistful world-weariness that holds the audience in thrall, willing captives to the spell she throws in her ‘wounded and broken’ moments.’ And speaking of ‘wounded and broken’ moments, Randy Esen has a background in psychology; one of her strengths, in my opinion, is that she never shrinks from addressing the negative sides of life – as she does in her 2023 album Not Alone, produced by her pianist-and-composer younger son Cenk with some help from her elder son Aykan and occasional contributions from her sinfully gifted husband Aydın.
Tuesday, April 28
Genco Arı Quartet feat. Sibel Köse
Genco Arı is a musician of astonishing ability who in addition to being an ace jazz pianist is now a successful arranger. A former member of guitarist Sarp Maden’s group ‘Quartet Muartet’, he now performs in public only rarely. It goes without saying that his performances are not to be missed. The last time I heard him play was at a ‘Quartet Muartet’ revival concert in Beykoz in 2021. In my blog on that event, I wrote the following: ‘One warm evening in September, four of Turkey’s most talented jazzmen – people who had not played together for over ten years – had a musical reunion that I was privileged to attend. … During the first number, as Sarp was entertaining us with smoky Scorpionic chords, a bearded figure entered the stage carrying what I at first took to be an accordion, but which turned out to be a kind of portable keyboard. This was the reclusive Genco Arı, a pianist and arranger of international quality whose public appearances are, regrettably, as rare as tarantellas at a trash metal concert. … The concert was inspirational: Genco’s sinful sense of rhythm and musical appropriateness (but most of all, his perfect phrasing) left me, as always, open-mouthed.’
The inimitable Sibel Köse, dubbed ‘the Queen of European Jazz’, is a vocalist of consummate professionalism and outstanding talent. Last time I saw Sibel perform at the Nardis Jazz Club, I said the following in my blog: ‘Over the three-and-a-bit years since I last had the privilege of hearing her, nothing of her energy has been lost: if anything, her singing is more powerful than ever. She hits the high notes with tremendous force and faultless intonation; she improvises creatively with nonsense words even more frequently than before, fashioning them into meaningful episodes within the song as a whole; and her emotional range remains unrivalled within my experience of jazz singers. All this is mixed in with both a searing sincerity and a wry sense of humour. How could anyone fail to enjoy and appreciate her artistry?’
ABOUT THE CLUB
The Bova Jazz Club is located in Mis Sokak, which leads off İstiklal Caddesi between Taksim Square and the Hüseyin Ağa Mosque at the entrance to Atıf Yılmaz Sokak (formerly ‘Sakız Ağacı Sokak’).
The nearest metro station is Taksim, on the M2 line. From Taksim Square, enter İstiklal Caddesi. Once you have passed the French Consulate-General and Institut Français (the low building just past the entrance to this street, on the right), Mis Sokak will be the third side street on your right – the one after Zambak Sokak and Bekar Sokak. The Bova club is on the left-hand side of Mis Sokak, just before you get to the first crossroads.
This club regularly hosts some of Turkey’s finest jazz musicians, being especially strong on modern and improvised jazz. However, the performance space on the first floor is small, to say the least, and advance booking is definitely advised (sitting on a crowded staircase isn’t particularly comfortable). I have found the staff to be friendly and helpful, even in the face of unreasonable requests.
Their programme for the coming month is usually released on Instagram. I have asked them to put it on their website as well, but so far no joy – the site has been ‘under construction’ for years now. (We live in hope.)
Time: 21:30 (doors open 21:00)
Tickets and prices: see Instagram account.
Randy Esen at Bova, April 6
