Yahya Dai, a saxophonist born in Ankara in 1963, learned his art while playing for many years with the legendary pianist, saxophonist, composer and pedagogue Tuna Ötenel, and from Tomasz Szukalski, his teacher at the Jazz Department of Bilkent University in Ankara. The other members of his quartet, formed in 1990, are Ercüment Orkut (piano), Erdal Akyol (bass) and Ediz Hafızoğlu (drums). The ensemble has played in a number of European countries and in the United States, and has also taken part in activities with other musicians, one of these being Ali Perret’s Acid Trippin’ project.
ΩIn the past, Yahya Dai has participated in a three-month workshop with Mike McMullen (in the USA in 2000), in the 2000 World Music Festival at U.C. Davis (University of California), in the Joshua Redman Remix Competition in 2002, in festivals in New York, Prague and London, and in Cahit Berkay’s ‘Film Music’ project. He also played the saxophone on Ayşe Tütüncü’s 2005 Panayır album. In 2011, his quartet recorded an album entitled Ümitvar Mavi in which most of the tracks were by Ercüment Orkut, who is a composer and arranger as well as a pianist.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
