It Was Always Time is the sophomore duo album of Turkish, Abu Dhabi-based drummer-percussionist sound designer Berke Can Özcan (known by his alter-ego alias Big Beats Big Times, and for his album with Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen, Twin Rocks, (Omni Tone, 2023) and American, Brooklyn-based baritone sax player Jonah Parzen-Johnson (who gas released three solo albums by the Finnish We Jazz label), both adding electronics to their arsenal, following the self-released debut EP Friendship Music for Turkey that raised money for the earthquake relief in 2023. The album follows a live, free improvised performance of Özcan and Parzen-Johnson in Istanbul in April 2022 that cemented their musical partnership which is instantly solid, innocent and joyful.
The new album was recorded across continents, time zones, and cultures and meticulously weaves layers of exotic, found-sound samples over the improvised acoustic percussion and the baritone sax parts. The urgent, timeless and almost effortless atmosphere of the free improvised performance informs It Was Always Time. The seven pieces have deep, soulful melodic sensibility and seductive rhythmic drive and all feel as though composed textures. Özcan and Parzen-Johnson see this album as a statement or an existential battle against apathy and cynicism. They say that the antidote to stagnation is curiosity and the fuel for change is the joy of building something transformative together.
Though It Was Always Time is not a protest album, each piece expands its sonic palette a little further and suggests an inclusive musical vision, and both sound as much bigger unit than just a duo. Özcan and Parzen-Johnson embrace traditional and folk musical legacies, and futurist sounds, East and West and North and South, composed and improvised, and the mysterious and cinematic and the introspective and subtle. For them, as for all of us, it is always time to open our ears and eyes, look for like-minded, curious friends, and build something joyful together.
Eyal Hareuveni
Berke Can Özcan (percussion, electronics), Jonah Parzen-Johnson (baritone saxophone, electronics)
