Ilhan Ersahin's Istanbul Sessions
Alp Ersonmez, Turgut Alp Bekoglu, Izzet Kizil
Bir zamanlar simdi
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Album Cover Design
Istanbul Sessions, the genuine quartet of the eurasia, melt their original sound with modern jazz forms, eastern beats and spices. The band’s 5th studio album is co-produced and recorded by Grammy awarded Italian producer Tommaso Colliva. Frontman Ilhan Ersahin is one of those rare moguls of the New York City underground scene via his club and record label, Nublu, and he’s spread his New York energy throughout the world. It’s possible to see him jamming with The Red Hot Chili Peppers in Sao Paolo, or featuring Bugge Wesseltoft in Blue Note Tokyo or playing a beautiful oriental set with Turkish gypsies in an elegant concert hall somewhere in Europe.
Since 2008 they have set fire to stages all across the world : from New York to Istanbul, from Paris to Sao Paolo, from London to Skopje.. Their electrifying, genre-crossing performance posed questions: Is this really jazz Doesn’t this sound like a rock band? Where does their sound come from? It’s master-level musicianship meeting high eclecticism where the cliché of “east-to-west crossover” finds it’s true sense and power. A session is a meeting of a deliberative body to conduct its business. In this case, the business is music, and the music is another heavyweight offering from Ilhan and his crew. Above all, the Istanbul Sessions can aptly be described as cinematic.
Their debut (2009) had french trumpeter Erik Truffaz as guest. “Night Rider”, their second release (2012) reflected perfectly their genuine sound in-between dance music and free-form-jazz flavored by some ethnic spices. Their third (2015) “Istanbul Underground” was a perfect summary of night life of never-sleeping metropolis : Istanbul (it’ was also reviewed as their best studio production so far). Their forth studio album “Solar Plexus” (2017); having young genie Dave Harrington (the other half of “Darkside” with Nicolas Jaar) on co-producer seat, Ibrahim Maalouf, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Nils-Petter Molvær, Mauro Refosco, Kenny Wollesen, Erik Truffaz and Brandon Lewis as special guests, took 21st century music into another eclectic direction where no border or atmosphere can limit the power of the creativity.
