Among famous musicians at the 18th Akbank Jazz Festival, organized by Pozitif and sponsored by Akbank, are Ron Carter, James Carter, Stephan Micus, Rhoda Scott and Tomasz Stanko. The festival will take place at venues including the Aya İrini Museum, the Cemal Reşit Rey (CRR) Concert Hall, the Akbank Art Center, the Babylon Performance Center, the Talimhane Theater and the Ghetto Music Lounge.
The festival program was introduced at a press conference held at the Q Jazz Club of the Les Ottomans Hotel on Tuesday. Akbank Art Director Derya Bigalı said the festival is one of Europe and Turkey's most important cultural events. Stating that the most important goals of the festival are to gather musicians and music lovers and to contribute to the development of jazz in Turkey, Bigalı emphasized that these efforts also aim to nurture new musicians. The festival program was announced by Mehmet Uluğ, and the briefing ended with a performance by pianist Genco Arı and his band.

The festival aims to introduce jazz masters to their audiences. While Bonga Kuenda, Azymuth, the Charlie Hunter Trio, the Steve Reid Ensemble, Sayag Jazz Machine, the Sarp Maden Quartet, 123 and Şenol Küçükyıldırım are among the musicians and groups that will perform. DJs will present city beats to the festival audience. Jazz lovers will also witness numerous special appearances, among them the Jonas Knutsson Quartet, the Far East Revisited, Oğuz Büyükberber, Tobias Klein's Electro Acoustic Duo, Smadj feat. Ibrahim Malouf and Talvin Singh, Erdem Helvacıoğlu and Elliot Sharp.

For young and old

The Akbank 18th Jazz Festival, in addition to concerts, will also feature workshops and panel discussions. Hülya Tunçağ, a music producer famous for the jazz programs she has produced, will guide children through a jazz workshop titled "Çocuklarla Müzikal Kaynaşma" (Musical Mingling with Children) on Oct. 18 at Akbank Sanat. Also, panel discussions titled "Caz Yapıyoruz/Dinliyoruz" (We Produce/Listen to Jazz) on Oct. 9 and "Caz Nedir? Ne Değildir?" (What Is Jazz? What Is It Not?) on Oct. 11, take place at Akbank Sanat. A workshop titled "Etiketler Dışında Duyma Biçimleri" (Hearing Forms out of Labels) will be put on by famous Turkish musician Küçükyıldırım on Oct. 11.

Festival program overview

The festival will kick off on Oct. 9 with a concert by Micus at Aya İrini. James Carter will entertain jazz lovers on Oct. 17 at CRR. On Oct. 18 the festival will host one of the best jazz musicians in the world, Ron Carter at CRR. Master organist of soul jazz Scott will be on stage on Oct. 10 at Aya İrini. The concert of famous composer Stanko is set to take place on Oct. 17 at CRR.

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