Turkish, Istanbul-based cult alto sax player-vocalist-composer-producer Korhan Futaci is known as the co-founder of the local free jazz band Konstrukt that has collaborated with Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, William Parker, Thurston Moore, and Keiji Haino. Futaci now leads a new quartet featuring the heavyweight of Turkish avant-garde, with reed player Barış Ertürk (who plays in the local, genre-defying Birds Ensemble), drummer Mehmet Ali Şimaylı, and double bass player Esat Ekincioğlu (of the Groningen-based psychedelic-punk-jazz Kuhn Fu). Futaci, Ertürk, and Şimaylı add electronics to their arsenal. The quartet’s debut album, Heavyweight Rehearsal, was recorded live during the first rehearsal of the quartet by Ekincioğlu at Limbo Studios in Groningen in September 2024. Futaci completed the DIY approach of the quartet and designed the album’s artwork.

The quartet describes its music as inspired by «from the back alleys of Istanbul to the flatlands of the Netherlands». The four pieces feature the quartet in its most raw, intense form. These pieces fuse elements of Turkish folk music with psychedelic rock, fiery free jazz, and free improvisations into unpredictable but quite danceable, uncharted terrains when anything can happen – and happens – all the time. Two pieces were included in Futaci’s repertoire with other musicians «Zaman» (Time) and «Bilmediğim Ne Çok Şey Var» (There Are So Many Things I Don’t Know, originally performed by Korhan Futacı & Kara Orkestra).

This quartet has a noble mission. It takes Istanbul’s chaotic atmosphere and transforms it into an uplifting and powerful, immersive ritual, leading the listeners – and audiences – towards a transcendent experience, «to travel beyond time and space to feel the unseen colors of resonances».

Eyal Hareuveni

Korhan Futacı (alto saxophone, vocals, electronics,  piano), Barış Ertürk (baritone saxophone, flute, electronics), Mehmet Ali Şimaylı (drums, cymbals, electronics, piano) Esat Ekincioğlu (double bass).