Composer/Multi-
and Whatsnext? Connect American Jazz with Turkish
Modes, Microtones and Rhythms on Resolution
Available September 23 on DÜNYA
Features Anat Cohen, Antonio Sanchez,
Dave Liebman, and Tiger Okoshi
Resolution
marks a major step forward for Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, the musical
polyglot, multi-instrumentalist, restless bandleader and prolific
composer who writes in both contemporary classical and jazz but draws
heavily from Turkish influences. His band Whatsnext? -- a shapeshifting
jazz orchestra that can be pared down to a combo, depending on his needs
-- is a force to be reckoned with, able to conform to the demands of
Sanlıkol's complex but accessible compositions and shift genres on a
moment's notice.
Sanlıkol was able to recruit a roster of A-list guests to solo on the compositions of Resolution,
including clarinetist Anat Cohen, soprano saxophonist Dave Liebman,
trumpeter Tiger Okoshi and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Moreover, he
composed their showcases with them in mind after he secured their
commitments, rather than try to fit them into the music he had already
completed. "I designed (the compositions) to make sure that it was these
four specific artists that these pieces were written for," he says.
"This was not a project where I brought them in to blow. Absolutely
not."
The new album picks up where Sanlıkol's What's Next? --
which Jazziz proclaimed one of the 10 best albums of 2014 -- left off.
The orchestra spent most of that record exploring pieces Sanlıkol had
composed between 1996 and 2000; only the last composition was new,
written in 2011. In the intervening years, Sanlıkol -- who was born in
Turkey in 1974 -- immersed himself in Turkish music and began to grasp
the connections between American jazz and the music of his native
country. He wrote the music that populate Resolution in
the summer of 2015, and more than ever before -- perhaps more than
anyone has done before -- they point to the places where the two
cultures meet.
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Photo Credit: John Weston
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The music of Resolution is
a direct outgrowth out of Sanlıkol's desire to learn more about the
music and culture of his birthplace. During what he calls his "Turkish
decade," he studied it intently -- reading about it, listening to it
and, eventually, composing within its framework of Middle Eastern modes,
microtones and rhythms. "When I realized that I didn't know much about
my roots, that was a big shock, and I think it triggered something in me
that deep," he says.
Sanlıkol adds other cultural touchstones to the mix. Though "The Turkish 2nd Line," the song that kicks off Resolution,
is obviously steeped in the New Orleans brass band tradition, the album
is filled with references to other idioms -- funk, R&B, rock, '70s
fusion, reggae and Ellington-style big band, to name a few. The first
movement of the album's centerpiece, "Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and
Jazz Orchestra in C," was inspired by the soundtracks of 1970s crime
movies like Dirty Harry and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
While
Sanlıkol conducts the Whatsnext? ensemble, he also performs on some of
the tracks. An accomplished pianist, he plays piano, harpsichord,
clavinet, Moog Prodigy and other keyboards as well as Middle Eastern
string and wind instruments, percussion and, the continuum fingerboard, a
keyless synthesizer that allows the musician to play microtones that
aren't possible on a piano keyboard. "I overdubbed pretty much
everything," Sanlıkol says of his own playing. "If one listens carefully
to the album, with all of the harpsichord, clavinet, Moog and Turkish
instrumentation -- they'll notice that there is a lot of production
techniques in this album." And, to boot, he sings, a duet with vocalist
Nedelka Prescod on the absolutely gorgeous "Whirl Around."
"This
album is a far more focused statement musically," Sanlıkol says. "It is
all new material, and it really represents where I am here and now. The
first one (What's Next?) was showing where I was and was hinting
at where I was headed. The first album basically set up this. I think
this is a really major statement from me musically."
About Mehmet Sanlıkol
Mehmet
Ali Sanlıkol was born in Istanbul in 1974, learned piano from his
mother and began performing publicly at age 5. He came to Boston to
attend Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. He has been leading
bands in Boston since the 1990s, and earned master's and doctorate
degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music. He cofounded and
serves as the president of DÜNYA, a Boston-based collective of musicians
and an independent record label which presents contemporary music
influenced by Turkish traditions. He has composed dozens of pieces for a
variety of jazz and classical groups, and was nominated for a Grammy in
2014. Sanlıkol teaches at Emerson College and is a fellow at Harvard's
Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
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Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & Whatsnext? - "Resolution" EPK
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Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & Whatsnext? · Resolution
DÜNYA · Release Date: September 23, 2016
For more information on Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, please visit: Sanlikol.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Greg Angiolillo · greg@dlmediamusic.com
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
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