The Teatro Morlacchi, in the Italian hill town of Perugia, has the stature and complexion of a dowager queen: classically proportioned, resplendent in red and gold, with four tiers of opera boxes hugging the curved walls – still regal, only slightly faded. That’s understandable. Although it has received several facelifts and one extensive remodeling, it opened in the summer of 1781 – making it nearly 230 years old when Fahir Atakoğlu brought his trio to perform there, as part of the 2010 Umbria Jazz Festival. Contradictions abound. The Morlacchi, which stands on the site of an ancient convent, was built to host Baroque music and 19th-century opera; Atakoğlu’s music belongs firmly to the modern age, revitalizing the energetic fusion jazz of the 1970s – originally the province of electric keyboards – via the pianoforte. The Morlacchi witnessed the full flowering of European polyphony; the Turkish-born Atakoğlu comes from a musical tradition rooted in monophony (the unadorned melodic line). And while Italy remains in many ways a cosseted culture, protectively guarding its homegrown arts, Atakoğlu has worked to blend his own native music with sounds from the wider world, incorporating Cuban rhythms, Middle Eastern melodies, and improvisation as perfected by American jazz artists. “I grew up in a country where people are born into monophony,” Atakoğlu explains. “But we as Turks combine it with the polyphony used throughout the world. And I always wanted to play with musicians from different countries, to hear their approach.” In fact, the success of Atakoğlu’s music stems largely from this generosity of spirit. “A lot of my compositions have Turkish origins and tempos; it just comes naturally. But I always want the people I play with to come up with their own ideas, their own interpretations; I don’t want them to play these songs like Turkish musicians would. In this way, we can meet each other musically. “So for instance, when my songs are delivered by ‘El Negro’ [Horacio Hernandez], with his Cuban background, they come out different, because he puts something else into them.” Hernandez, the drummer who has played regularly with Atakoğlu since 2005, straddles the borders between Cuban, American, acoustic, and electric music; he has transformed dozens of recordings, mainstream jazz as well as fusion, by adding subtle elements of Afro-Caribbean rhythm. In a similar vein, when the French Canadian bass virtuoso Alain Caron solos, he adds the cantabile quality of French chanson, as well as the experience of co-founding UZEB, Canada’s first major fusion band, in the mid-70s. The tricky twists and turns in Atakoğlu’s tunes require a command of odd meters, which does not come naturally to most musicians raised in the West. But John Patitucci – the wizardly bassist who played on Atakoğlu’s 2009 album Faces & Places – told the pianist that his songs made the transition relatively easy. “He said it’s because my music is so melodic,” Atakoğlu recounts. “And because the melody fits so well on top of the rhythms, it is easier to grasp them.” At first glance, it seems surprising that such distinctively Turkish melodies would smoothly blend into the context of a precision-balanced, high-powered trio. But remember – what we know as “jazz fusion” has embraced the world’s musics almost from the beginning. Miles Davis brought African and Asian percussion into his early electric bands; John McLaughlin focused specifically on the complex rhythms and swirling melodies of India with his Mahavishnu Orchestra. Chick Corea looked toward Brazil and Spain; Michal Urbaniak skipped blithely to the odd meters of Balkan folk songs; Weather Report borrowed heavily from throughout South America and North Africa. The fact that a Turkish musician now adds his own regional flavors to the mix only begs the question, “What took so long?” True to his roots, Atakoğlu has used his birthright as inspiration for many of these songs. After its rubato introduction, “Beyoglu” reels into a typical Turkish rhythm in 5/8 meter, the better to express the animated bustle of its namesake – “the Times Square of Istanbul,” as Atakoğlu describes this neighborhood. “Aheste” is a Turkish word for “something slow-paced,” a good description for the stuttering theme and bluesy funk that follows, and “Black Sea” employs a 7/8 rhythm that is “very much of the Black Sea region, in the northern part of Turkey,” he explains. “ESS” stands for “East Side Story” and appeared in a musical of the same name, which Atakoğlu scored in the mid-2000s. The plot centers on Romany families in Istanbul, a subject that also inspired the riff tune “Gypsy In Me” (which sounds a bit like what might have resulted had Thelonious Monk visited the Topkapi Palace). Half the tunes on this disc – “Sync-Op,” “Aheste,” “Gypsy In Me,” “Black Sea,” and “Trapped” – originally appeared on Atakoğlu’s acclaimed quintet album Istanbul In Blue, released in 2008. When he played Umbria, those songs had percolated to the top of his set list, and they had expanded in scope – even as they shrank in instrumentation – to become true trio showcases. They had picked up a little speed, as in-concert performances tend to do. But they had also deepened in emotional resonance, as a comparison with any of the studio versions on Istanbul In Blue will reveal. The songs are savory and aromatic: you can almost smell the Grand Bazaar, taste the dates and kebabs in Ankara, feel the breeze off the Bosphorus, hear the mountain forests to the north. But perhaps the song most emblematic of Atakoğlu’s purpose is the one that sounds least like these. The moody, introspective “Connection” has a Turkish foundation, expressed in its introductory measures; but the main melody hews closer to a modern American standard, and its rhythms range from a bossa-nova tinge to a touch of tango. Like Istanbul itself – or the fact of Fahir Atakoğlu’s trio playing the Teatro Morlacchi – “Connection” forges a bridge between east and west. More than anything else, that connection defines his music. NEIL TESSER The Teatro Morlacchi, in the Italian hill town of Perugia, has the stature and complexion of a dowager queen: classically proportioned, resplendent in red and gold, with four tiers of opera boxes hugging the curved walls – still regal, only slightly faded. That’s understandable. Although it has received several facelifts and one extensive remodeling, it opened in the summer of 1781 – making it nearly 230 years old when Fahir Atakoğlu brought his trio to perform there, as part of the 2010 Umbria Jazz Festival. Contradictions abound. The Morlacchi, which stands on the site of an ancient convent, was built to host Baroque music and 19th-century opera; Atakoğlu’s music belongs firmly to the modern age, revitalizing the energetic fusion jazz of the 1970s – originally the province of electric keyboards – via the pianoforte. The Morlacchi witnessed the full flowering of European polyphony; the Turkish-born Atakoğlu comes from a musical tradition rooted in monophony (the unadorned melodic line). And while Italy remains in many ways a cosseted culture, protectively guarding its homegrown arts, Atakoğlu has worked to blend his own native music with sounds from the wider world, incorporating Cuban rhythms, Middle Eastern melodies, and improvisation as perfected by American jazz artists. “I grew up in a country where people are born into monophony,” Atakoğlu explains. “But we as Turks combine it with the polyphony used throughout the world. And I always wanted to play with musicians from different countries, to hear their approach.” In fact, the success of Atakoğlu’s music stems largely from this generosity of spirit. “A lot of my compositions have Turkish origins and tempos; it just comes naturally. But I always want the people I play with to come up with their own ideas, their own interpretations; I don’t want them to play these songs like Turkish musicians would. In this way, we can meet each other musically. “So for instance, when my songs are delivered by ‘El Negro’ [Horacio Hernandez], with his Cuban background, they come out different, because he puts something else into them.” Hernandez, the drummer who has played regularly with Atakoğlu since 2005, straddles the borders between Cuban, American, acoustic, and electric music; he has transformed dozens of recordings, mainstream jazz as well as fusion, by adding subtle elements of Afro-Caribbean rhythm. In a similar vein, when the French Canadian bass virtuoso Alain Caron solos, he adds the cantabile quality of French chanson, as well as the experience of co-founding UZEB, Canada’s first major fusion band, in the mid-70s. The tricky twists and turns in Atakoğlu’s tunes require a command of odd meters, which does not come naturally to most musicians raised in the West. But John Patitucci – the wizardly bassist who played on Atakoğlu’s 2009 album Faces & Places – told the pianist that his songs made the transition relatively easy. “He said it’s because my music is so melodic,” Atakoğlu recounts. “And because the melody fits so well on top of the rhythms, it is easier to grasp them.” At first glance, it seems surprising that such distinctively Turkish melodies would smoothly blend into the context of a precision-balanced, high-powered trio. But remember – what we know as “jazz fusion” has embraced the world’s musics almost from the beginning. Miles Davis brought African and Asian percussion into his early electric bands; John McLaughlin focused specifically on the complex rhythms and swirling melodies of India with his Mahavishnu Orchestra. Chick Corea looked toward Brazil and Spain; Michal Urbaniak skipped blithely to the odd meters of Balkan folk songs; Weather Report borrowed heavily from throughout South America and North Africa. The fact that a Turkish musician now adds his own regional flavors to the mix only begs the question, “What took so long?” True to his roots, Atakoğlu has used his birthright as inspiration for many of these songs. After its rubato introduction, “Beyoglu” reels into a typical Turkish rhythm in 5/8 meter, the better to express the animated bustle of its namesake – “the Times Square of Istanbul,” as Atakoğlu describes this neighborhood. “Aheste” is a Turkish word for “something slow-paced,” a good description for the stuttering theme and bluesy funk that follows, and “Black Sea” employs a 7/8 rhythm that is “very much of the Black Sea region, in the northern part of Turkey,” he explains. “ESS” stands for “East Side Story” and appeared in a musical of the same name, which Atakoğlu scored in the mid-2000s. The plot centers on Romany families in Istanbul, a subject that also inspired the riff tune “Gypsy In Me” (which sounds a bit like what might have resulted had Thelonious Monk visited the Topkapi Palace). Half the tunes on this disc – “Sync-Op,” “Aheste,” “Gypsy In Me,” “Black Sea,” and “Trapped” – originally appeared on Atakoğlu’s acclaimed quintet album Istanbul In Blue, released in 2008. When he played Umbria, those songs had percolated to the top of his set list, and they had expanded in scope – even as they shrank in instrumentation – to become true trio showcases. They had picked up a little speed, as in-concert performances tend to do. But they had also deepened in emotional resonance, as a comparison with any of the studio versions on Istanbul In Blue will reveal. The songs are savory and aromatic: you can almost smell the Grand Bazaar, taste the dates and kebabs in Ankara, feel the breeze off the Bosphorus, hear the mountain forests to the north. But perhaps the song most emblematic of Atakoğlu’s purpose is the one that sounds least like these. The moody, introspective “Connection” has a Turkish foundation, expressed in its introductory measures; but the main melody hews closer to a modern American standard, and its rhythms range from a bossa-nova tinge to a touch of tango. Like Istanbul itself – or the fact of Fahir Atakoğlu’s trio playing the Teatro Morlacchi – “Connection” forges a bridge between east and west. More than anything else, that connection defines his music. NEIL TESSER