Providence, RI--Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & whatsnext will perform on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 7:30 pm at RISD Auditorium. whatsnext is not only the title of composer, ethnomusicologist, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, Harvard research fellow and Emerson and Holy Cross faculty member Sanlıkol's new CD, it is also the name of his top-notch 12-piece ensemble, comprised of top flight Boston and New York based musicians. Here is the lineup: Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol on piano, keyboards, continuum, zurna, ney and vocals, Jerry Sabatini on trumpet and flugel horn, Jeff Claassen on trumpet and flugel horn, Mark Zaleski on alto sax and clarinet, Aaron Henry on tenor and soprano saxes, Chris Gagne on trombone, Jared Sims on baritone sax and bass clarinet, Utar Artun on piano and keyboards, Phil Sargent on electric guitar, Fernando Huergo on electric bass, Bertram Lehmann on drums and George Lernis on kettledrums, frame drums and percussion....
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Providence, RI--Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & whatsnext will perform on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 7:30 pm at RISD Auditorium. whatsnext is not only the title of composer, ethnomusicologist, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, Harvard research fellow and Emerson and Holy Cross faculty member Sanlıkol's new CD, it is also the name of his top-notch 12-piece ensemble, comprised of top flight Boston and New York based musicians. Here is the lineup: Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol on piano, keyboards, continuum, zurna, ney and vocals, Jerry Sabatini on trumpet and flugel horn, Jeff Claassen on trumpet and flugel horn, Mark Zaleski on alto sax and clarinet, Aaron Henry on tenor and soprano saxes, Chris Gagne on trombone, Jared Sims on baritone sax and bass clarinet, Utar Artun on piano and keyboards, Phil Sargent on electric guitar, Fernando Huergo on electric bass, Bertram Lehmann on drums and George Lernis on kettledrums, frame drums and percussion.
Scullers Jazz Club is located in the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel at 400 Soldiers Field Road, Allston, MA 02134. Tickets at $25.00 are on sale now at www.scullersjazz.com. Scullers Jazz Club is wheelchair accessible. For more information, tickets and dinner/show packages, call: 617-562-4111.
Turkish Cypriot Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol recently released his new CD, titled whatsnext. Of the nine big band compositions on the disc, eight were composed between 1996 and 2000. By mixing exotic Turkish musical sounds with jazz, the disc is truly bilingual and features some of the best musicians in Boston and some from New York. whatsnext is cutting-edge, innovative and striking. This disc has it all. The concert at Scullers promises to be an extraordinary event.
"In the past few years, I discovered Turkish music," says Sanlıkol. "It took a long time to blend, converge and intersect these two musical languages. In a way, my two worlds of jazz and Turkish music are now meeting in a natural manner. whatsnext I think demonstrates both who I was as a jazz composer back in the late '90s and early 2000, as well as who I am now. It features compositions that are completely inspired by some of my film interests."
In addition to his primary instrument, piano, Sanlıkol also plays an end-blown flute called the ney, two double-reed pipes--the zurna and the duduk, a single reed pipe--the sipsi, a short necked lute called the ud, 3 long-necked lutes--the saz, the üç telli and the tanbur, a "spike" fiddle called the rebab, several Western instruments including guitar and drums and various sundry percussion instruments! And, that's not all, Mehmet is also a very fine vocalist as well. And at Scullers, Sanlıkol will debut his exciting high-tech new instrument, a Continuum Fingerboard! This is an amazing new keyboard instrument that allows the player to "bend" notes, producing the microtonal sounds heard in traditional Turkish music.
Mehmet Sanlıkol has composed for, performed and toured with a wide range of internationally known stars and ensembles including Tiger Okoshi, Bob Brookmeyer, Esperanza Spalding, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Okay Temiz, Erkan Oğur, Yansımalar, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Brenna MacCrimmon and The Boston Camerata. Sanlıkol has also composed, arranged, produced and performed with Turkish pop stars such as Fahir Atakoğlu, Burcu Güneş, Ümit Sayın, Edip Akbayram and Nil Karaibrahimgil.
In 2004, Sanlıkol completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition at NEC and helped found a non-profit organization known as DÜNYA in Boston. DÜNYA is a musicians’ collective dedicated to contemporary presentations of Turkish traditions, alone and in interaction with other world traditions, through musical performances, publications and educational activities. Sanlıkol is the organization's President.
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