İlhan Erşahin’s Istanbul Sessions

There are at least two types of musicians: Some follow a specific path that leads deep inward. Others are drawn to side paths and keep striking out in new directions. İlhan Erşahin, born in Stockholm in 1965 to a Turkish father and a Swedish mother, definitely belongs to the second category. The saxophonist started out with rock and reggae, then moved on to jazz, relocated to New York, played in numerous bands, and opened himself up to hip-hop, dub, trip-hop, and other genres to bring his hybrid ideas to life with Wax Poetic; he composed film scores and founded the Nublu club in the East Village in 2002, which also gave rise to a record label. His exciting project, Istanbul Sessions, launched in Turkey in 2008. “The sound we were aiming for from the very beginning was something like a rock-dance vibe. We wanted to play instrumental music for an audience that would dance to it.” Just how captivating this is has Enjoy Jazz several occasions at Enjoy Jazz . Now the quartet returns with the highly acclaimed album “Mahalle.”