The guest of Blindfold is pianist-composer Tolga Bedir. Although Bedir is known as a pianist and composer, he is actually a multi-instrumentalist, in other words, he can play many instruments very well. Bedir, who graduated from Mimar Sinan State Conservatory ‘Violin Department’, preferred to play the piano, which he took as an auxiliary instrument at the conservatory, prefered it as his main instrument in music with which he wrote and played in Istanbul jazz scene since the mid-90s. His interest in jazz and improvised modern music dates back to those years, especially when he was introduced to Aydın Esen’s music and became his student. During this period, Tolga Bedir, who had the opportunity to play with Turkish jazz trumpet legend İmer Demirer (tp) for a long time, was accepted to Berklee in 2005, where his piano teacher was Ray Santisi. Having the opportunity to spend more time and exercise with the drums at Berklee, Bedir focused on drums with the encouragement and support of drummer Berke Özgümüş after returning to Turkey and participated in Aydın Esen’s group. Bedir, who is also a music producer and arranger, is now concentrating on his own Youtube channels, especially about film, camera and light, and produces and publishes films for this platform. Bedir, who appreciates music by trying to understand what the player wants to convey in general, also tries to decipher the musician by revealing the periods in which melodic and harmonic approaches were used. We presented him a selection of piano trios.
Martial Solal Trio
Triangle
JMS 1995
Round About Twelve – M.Solal
Martilal Solal (piano)
Marc Johnson (doublebass)
Peter Erskine (drums)
At first this looked like a record released by ECM, but later I changed my mind that it an American recording. There are also Brad Mehldau licks. Not bad at all. There was a guy who was the pianist of Avishai Cohen, he/ she sounds a bit like him. Very interesting, he sounds like a bit like Aydın Esen, but he is not. Maybe Robert Glasper, but not. It was reminiscent of some weird recordings of Gary Husband. He also tries fast phrases in narrow spaces on the drum. I don’t think this pianist is someone I know. I think he is someone who knows Aydın Esen. That can be early eras of Brad Mehldau, or may be Gonzalo Rubalcaba who can play in such a technique. But there’s definitely a European influence, it didn’t feel like an American band to me, but rather ECM, and modern style recordings… Thomas Stanko has a pianist, I can’t remember his name, he is a man who plays more technical than that. It could even be Cecil Taylor.
Martial Solal. Aydın Esen came first in the competition organized in his name in France in 1989.
He may be much older than Aydın Esen, and Aydın Esen may have been influenced by him. Peter Erskine is also on the album. The recording isn’t bad at all.
Robert Glasper Trio
Mood
Fresh Sound New Talent 2004
Blue Skies – Irving Berlin
Robert Glasper (piano)
Bob Hurst (doublebass)
Damion Reed (drums)
I like the drummer. He also has a European touch, just like Brad Mehldau again. I think this is a man you may like. He placed the tune towards the middle of the solo piano, which I did not expect at all. It reminded me your music. It seemed to me that the way it was played could say something. I felt ECM style. too. Pretty good guy. I listen to many names on Spotify, I try to keep some of them in my mind. Here, too, there are places similar to Aydın Esen. I remember the early days of Robert Glasper.
Yes, Robert Glasper. Mood album.
Actually, I don’t know the titles of the albums. I’m trying to understand what everyone is trying to say in their music. Robert Glasper has his own dirt, but then he turned into something else… He is dancing. When the system picks you up and brings you somewhere, it makes you do other things. Sometimes Thelonious Monk would dance too, but his case was different, of course.
Chick Corea
Trio Music
ECM 1982
Trio Improvisation 3.
Chick Corea (piano)
Miroslav Vitous (doublebass)
Roy Haynes (drums)
Maybe I would have guessed that this is Aydın Esen!? He also sounds a bit like Joachim Kühn. This man is a good pianist. The double bass player reminded me of Miroslav Vitous in the highs. I thought it was drummer Gary Husband. Indeed, there are places that reminded me Aydın Esen, but there are some movements that he would not be incorporate. I think this is an old album. The recording quality is also outdated. The recording of the piano is like the mid-90s. The production company could be JMS. The studio where Aydın Esen also recorded for a while… I like the recording of that studio. It may be a Turkish musician playing with Miroslav, I’m guessing that Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol wouldn’t go into such a thing in his life anyway. There are also Gonzalo Rubalcaba sounds. We can’t say that since Brad Mehldau came in the 2000s as it’s the old record. I know that Keith Jarret made such recordings in Aydın’s time. Chick Corea usually uses this type of unison. I don’t know about this recording, but…
Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous, Roy Haynes. An album they made after Now He Sings Then He Sobs. Trio Music.
Yes, it is evident from those dirty arches of Mirsolav, I also have other albums. I caught Chick Corea in the last few moves because the piece wasn’t tonal. Recorded in the 80s, Chick Corea was making crazy music like this back then.
Bud Powell
Portrait Of Thelonious
Colombia 1965
Off Minor – T.Monk
Bud Powell (piano)
Pierre Michelot (doublebass)
Kenny Clarke (drums)
This record is also quite old. It’s like the 60’s. He’s talking and making sounds like Keith Jarret while playing the piano. There are always major and minor transitions. I think it must be an African-American person. It doesn’t seem that old now. There’s Mulgrew Miller, but he’s a more modern-sounding guy. These bumps resemble one. It can’t be McCoy, he plays modern too. The guy is playing pretty vulgar changes here. He plays a little dirty, Ahmet Jamal’s old records have such dirty playing. It could also be Monk.
This pianist may be Kerem Görsev’s favorite pianist. Because there are some moves he play here. It could be Bud Powell’s last years.
Bud Powell. Portrait of Thelonious. 1961 recording.
I know about Bud Powell’s younger days, he has a performance that slowly moves towards modernity. In his early years, he was playing more bebop, you could hear the notes more and more. It means that he prepared the period that will come after him.
You used a term that says he is playing on the changes, can you explain it?
Capture instant changes. As the chord (change) changes, the note drops from where it left off by a half note to the next chord as the harmony note. The beginning of this style is actually Bud Powell. It goes down the strong time of the next chord by a half note, not a full note. D will come after E, the next chord also has D, instead of playing D, it falls into D Sharp.
Thank you Tolga for this beautiful Blindfold.
Thank you too.
