Ivan's Blog

My son made me discover a Turkish jazz pianist called Fazil Say. I must admit I never heard of him before, but I listened to two of his jazz variations: variations on Mozart’s “alla turca” and a set of Paganini variations. I am usually not fond of jazz transcriptions of classical piano pieces, but these two are really good. Worth listening to them!

The interesting thing is that he is as much a classical as a jazz player. On another entry I found on YouTube he plays Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s wonderful Chacone (originally composed for solo violin). Although I do not like Busoni’s transcription at all (I really prefer the original), it is worth noting when a pianist can play both jazz and classical. It is not frequent (Keith Jarrett comes to my mind who also published CD-s with sonatas of Händel, and also recorded the Well Temperated Clavier).