It is hard to find the right words to tell how I felt last night…a thousand and one nights…well, ours was one of a 
thousand and one jazz tales…:))
From time to time, I still don’t get how those notes can touch the inner depths of your soul…plucking every nerve of your brain…bending your emotions…twisting your perception of reality…moving you with its rhythm…giving you continuous presents as if every second of your life is your birthday. On Saturday night, I was at Babylon for watching Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions for the 11th time… :) When jazz in question, it’s never boring…
Ilhan Ersahin…one of the most modest musicians I have ever known…away from all kinds of complexes…so respectful…so nice…there on stage…with his checked trousers, a nublu t-shirt and trainers…as if he was a kid, happy to play with his toy saxophone…fantastic notes…dazzling compositions…eyes mostly closed…not living in our world…the fingers moving rapidly but elegantly…every touch of his fingers is touching my heart and soul…sympathetic…making jokes with his accented turkish (he’s getting better, though)…introducing the name of each song…notes going up and down…throwing you from a cliff…and holding you with the soft clouds…landing is secure but temporary… :)
Alp Ersonmez…he has become one of my fave bass players because of his dynamic style…groovy…possible to see him dancing…:))…funky…playing the bass with his soul, not with his fingers…sometimes playing with a stick and making his bass sound something like an indian sitar and an australian didgeridoo…fingers travelling continuously on the bass strings…nice nice riffs…
Turgut Alp Bekoglu…the energetic drummer of the group…dancing with his drums…touching everything around in a moment…the exact timing of touches…standing up from time to time… :) so enthusiastic…so concentrated…so powerful…
Izzet Kizil…the percussion player…the rhythm ninja…very fast finger moves…hard to catch…a little bit rapping…alittle bit latin…mostly oriental flavours…9/8… :) …even Erik was accompanying him with his shoulders… :) and he was accompanying Erik’s notes with his varied percussion notes…
…Erik Truffaz…whenever I see Erik on stage, I just drift with him…his notes are so flowing that I can’t help letting go of myself and falling in love with his music…on stage again…with his trumpet…sometimes kneeling down…walking around…gazing at the other musicians…sometimes even dancing…glancing at the audience…leaving the stage for a cardigan or a jacket when it gets cold…always playing with all his heart and soul and body…improvising continuously…closing his eyes…living the moment…experiencing the depths…glances…blue eyes…from time to time meeting them…drowning in his creation of sea…seeing the depths of him…beautiful…
Surprise surprise…Craig Harris is on stage…the trombone player…Ilhan told us that he was the first musician that Doublemoon signed its first contract…he made a very improvizational trombone solo…and caught us with his groovy style…follow the trombone player…
I lived the dream…it is always worth seeing them on stage again and again…thanks to the kings and princes…the queens and the princesses…the palaces and the feasts….of the jazz world…
…mmmm…:))
PS: I had a chance to talk to Truffaz and he told me that the new album with his Quartet will be released in November…and this was the dessert part of the concert… :)
