Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Akbank Jazz Festival, hosting over 5,000 international and Turkish jazz artists until now, and reaching an audience of over 500,000 people with 773 concerts, 1,000 workshops, and more than 100 interviews in 30 years in an attempt to ensure the transfer of jazz music to new generations, is getting prepared to celebrate its 30th anniversary with a special project in pursuance of its mission.
Having supported the development of Turkish jazz for the past 30 years, Akbank Jazz Festival delivers an archival work in order to record and commemorate the current state of Turkish Jazz without ever slowing down in this period of global pandemic in which all dynamics have changed, concerts have been cancelled, and events have been postponed. Initiating a retrospective project portraying the last 30 years with its valuable contents of special records, interviews, and documentary shots, Akbank Jazz Festival thereby encourages and supports creativity despite all restrictions brought by pandemic and aims to leave an influential, meaningful, and enduring work as a legacy to the world of Turkish jazz.
Consisting of exclusive records, as well as 30 original compositions and the performance of nearly 80 musicians, in memory of the 30th anniversary of Akbank Jazz Festival, this project has a crucial value not only as a special album but also as a documentary depicting and reflecting the spirit of both the past 30 years and the current period thanks to videos displaying record process and interviews with musicians.
Akbank Jazz Festival is going to feature in this album original works that will be published for the first time and are prepared by 30 jazz musicians and groups of Turkey by being inspired by their feelings or thoughts about the festival, the city, and current period. This album, which will be an archival work reflecting the Turkish Jazz world, is released as a vinyl record and in digital format.
The 30th Akbank Jazz Festival special album whose organization and content programming will be carried out in collaboration with Pozitif will include young musicians, musicians who live abroad, and musicians who were going to be invited to the festival this year, besides masters who performed at the festival in the past 30 years.
Comprising 30 pieces, the album includes compositions of essential names and groups of Turkish Jazz such as Ali Perret, Aydın Esen, Ayşe Tütüncü, Baki Duyarlar, Barış Demirel - Barıştık Mı, Burak Bedikyan, Cem Tuncer, Çağıl Kaya, Çağrı Sertel, Deniz Taşar, Ediz Hafızoğlu, Elif Çağlar, İlhan Erşahin’s İstanbul Sessions, İmer Demirer, Jülide Özçelik, Kağan Yıldız and Sibel Köse, Kamil Özler, Kerem Görsev, Konstrukt, Lahza (Cenk Erdoğan & İkiz), MÖE (MadenÖktemErsönmez), Neşet Ruacan & Ozan Musluoğlu Quartet, Nilüfer Verdi, Oğuz Büyükberber, Okay Temiz, Önder Focan, Selen Gülün, Timuçin Şahin, Tuna Ötenel, TÖZ (Tamer Temel, Ercüment Orkut, Cem Aksel).
On the other hand, among those musicians accompanying the album are Adem Gülşen, Barış Doğukan Yazıcı, Burak Irmak, Berkan Tilavel, Bulut Gülen, Can Çankaya, Cem Nasuhoğlu, Çağdaş Oruç, Efe Demiral, Ekin Cengizkan, Engin Recepoğulları, Eren Turgut, Eylül Biçer, Eylül Ergül, Ferit Odman, Fırtına Kıral, İzzet Kızıl, Kaan Bıyıkoğlu, Kamil Yılmaz, Korhan Futacı, Kürşad Deniz, Mehmet Ali Şimaylı, Meriç Demirkol, Miraç Yavuz, Nedim Ruacan, Orhan Deniz, Ozan Musluoğlu, Serhan Erkol, Selim Aydın, Şenol Küçükyıldırım, Şenova Ülker, Taşkın Akarsu, Tibet Akarca, Tolga Tohumcu, Turgut Alp Bekoğlu Umut Çağlar, and Volkan Hürsever.
You can listen to the album Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow on 156 different digital music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Fizy from October 23rd.