İlhan Erşahin's Istanbul Sessions

There are at least two types of musicians: those who follow a single path, going ever deeper inward, and those who are drawn to side roads and keep striking out in new directions. İlhan Erşahin, born in Stockholm in 1965 to a Turkish father and a Swedish mother, firmly belongs to the second camp.

The saxophonist started with rock and reggae, then moved into jazz, relocated to New York, played in numerous bands, and opened himself up to hip-hop, dub, trip-hop and other genres - channelling his hybrid ideas through Wax Poetic. He composed film scores and in 2002 founded the club Nublu in the East Village, which also gave rise to a record label.

His compelling project Istanbul Sessions launched in Turkey in 2008. "The sound we were going for from the start was something like a rock-dance feeling. We wanted to play instrumental music for an audience that dances to it." How gripping that can be has been proven here more than once. Now the quartet returns with the acclaimed album "Mahalle".