Boston Globe and WBUR Spotlight New Album from Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol: "Turkish Hipster: Tales from Swing to Psychedelic"
NEC Music History and Musicology faculty member Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol's new album Turkish Hipster: Tales from Swing to Psychedelic received spotlights from The Boston Globe and WBUR this Thursday.
Both features explore how Sanlıkol's "truly eclectic" new album with band Whatsnext?, comprising saxophonist and former NEC jazz faculty Miguel Zenón, clarinetist Anat Cohen, and drummer Antonio Sanchez, uniquely and skillfully bridges different musical traditions in its seven compositions, from Afro-Brazilian influences to Turkish/Ottoman microtones.
"Bridging different musical traditions has long been part of Sanlıkol's mission," wrote the Globe. "The New England Conservatory faculty member is the director of NEC’s Intercultural Institute. But he’s always careful to avoid, as he writes in the liner notes, 'the cliches and stereotypical sounds in line with the reductionist images and news alerts we are bombarded with every second of every day of our lives.'"
The public is invited to attend two upcoming album release concerts — one local, at Somerville's Crystal Ballroom on September 28, presented by Global Arts Live, and the second at the world-famous Birdland Jazz Club in New York City on October 1. NEC Jazz Studies Co-Chair Ken Schaphorst will conduct both concerts.