| Duos with Elliott Sharp, Burhan Öçal, Joëlle Léandre, Martin Schütz. The beauty of the voice and the transparency of the structures
characterize the music of Saadet Türköz. That the Kazakh-Turkish singer who lives in Zurich
is releasing a record with the smallest possible instrumentation is no accident:
the duo, as a transparent form that favors the minute
comprehensibility of its individual elements, suits her.
Saadet Türköz's duos are a filigrane transfer of sounds
as they come to being in their innermost form, in their intuition, as Saadet says.
The duos with Elliott Sharp, Burhan Öçal, Joëlle Léandre and Martin Schütz
offer space for the full tonal development of the voice of Saadet Türköz.
Review courtesy of All About Jazz: Turkish vocalist and now a resident of Zurich, Switzerland, Saadet Turkoz aligns her talents with members of the Euro-Jazz scene and American guitar whiz Elliot Sharp for a series of duets on Marmara Sea. Enamored with appealing artwork, featuring abstract color photographs, text and lyrics, Ms. Turkoz vocalizes and chants through a mixed bag of Turkish folks songs, poems, love songs, a traditional ³Kazakh² wedding ceremony amid other indigenous themes. And while the artist possesses a crystalline voice and an altogether impressive vocal range, some of these duets simply seem to clash as the proverbial oil and water analogy takes it toll and detracts from the overall effect. On the predominately cacophonous duets with electric guitarist and EFX expert Elliot Sharp, we are treated to an assortment of oscillating crosscurrents and digital loops in concert with Ms. Turkoz¹ plaintive cries and sonorous incantations. However, the vocalist¹s duets with cellist Martin Schutz, saz, Ud performer Burhan Ocal and the great bassist Joelle Leandre lend a bit more to the believability factor; although, at times, even some of these pairings present a few sonic conflicts. Basically, this reviewer would welcome an opportunity to hear Ms. Turkoz performing within a more appropriate context as Marmara Sea dutifully highlights here magnificent vocal gifts. Otherwise, the counterbalancing improvisations do little more than provide atonal qualities to the artist¹s often captivating renderings of ethnocentric themes and motifs.
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