Podcast 550: A Conversation with Mehmet Ali Sanlikol

One of the great delights in modern jazz comes when a talented composer or arranger takes on material which we have come to expect to sound a certain way, or be presented in a certain manner, and turns it upside down, or at least off-kilter. Whether it's a singer reimagining the way a tune from the Great American Songbook is interpreted (Cassandra Wilson, Kurt Elling); a soloist wringing emotion from a tired chestnut (almost anything Fred Hersch, Brad Mehldau or Keith Jarrett cover) or bringing in sounds from other genres or cultures to make us rethink the very sound of jazz itself (Kamasi Washington, Donnie McCaslin, Robert Glasper), we are listening to new music at a very exciting time. Mehmet Ali Sanlikol fits firmly into this category. As a composer, he brings contemporary classical, straight ahead jazz and the music of his Turkish heritage into a wondrous sonic collision. With his band Whatsnext?, he is allowing us to think twice before putting music into one category or another. Resolution is his new CD, and from the very start, you can tell there is something exciting happening here. "Turkish Second Line" takes the sound of classic New Orleans street music (driven forward by guest soloist Anat Cohen) and merges it with the kind of Turkish dance music that Sanlikol has heard at parties since he was a child in Istanbul. Whether he is pairing scat singing with traditional Turkish singing or adding micro-tonality to big-band charts, Mehmet is making this music uniquely his own. Aided by additional guest soloists David Liebman, Antonio Sanchez and Tiger Okoshi, Whatsnext? rises to the occasion time and time again playing this strong material.  Podcast 550 is my conversation with Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, as we discuss his musical background, and how he seeks to merge the music of his Turkish roots with Jazz. Musical selections from Resolution include the title track, "Turkish Second Line" and "Whirlaround." \Sanlikol and Whatsnext? will present the new CD at concerts at Joe's Pub in New York on October 6th, and Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, MA on October 9th.