Jazzin'

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The best thing about being in Appreciating Jazz is that my professor, who is a pretty well-known critic and scholar in the Turkish jazz community, gets mad free tickets and gives them to us. Yesterday I took Ariel to the Jonas Knutsson Quartet, led by Jonas, a Norwegian saxophonist known for mixing world music with jazz. Last night he played with a drummer from Mexico City who mixed all these crazy drums in with his set and would break out into these crazy drum solos where he would sing what sounded like traditional Caribbean songs. The bassist was a Quebecois who looked like one of those aging Wallingford don't-give-a-fuck hippies who traded in his tie-dye shirt for a baggy sweat suit and cultivates an unkempt-looking beard;



he was so fucking good, and he would scat along with himself when he soloed, sometimes scatting the same notes and sometimes singing a counterpoint with his voice. His style wasn't very jazzy for a much of the show; he used a lot of harmonics and a lot of repetitive, mathy syncopated riffs. Their keyboardist was really boring. Many of the songs were very dark--or at least I thought so--and Jonas Knutsson's soprano saxophone actually often sounded somewhat out of place. But he performed well enough to make up for it anyway. It just would have sounded much better with a baritone or tenor sax, nawmean? Either way, it was fucking fantastic; I don't think the Jonas Knutsson Quartet plays very often and I was really lucky to have the chance to see them. 10 lira each (after I paid for half of Arl's ticket)? Worth it.

Two more free shows on Friday and Saturday! Maybe a free DJ set afterwards at Babylon on Saturday, which is supposed to be one of the best clubs in the city. Sweet.

Things are strange, but fantastic. I might learn how to play Bağlama.

Listening to lots of Bethurum. Reminds me of Nicole.

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Photos

Jonas Knutsson Quartet
Ballers