February 20, 2019

  • Hakan Toker Creates Intriguing Crossover Classics

     

    Messing Around…With the Classics
    Hakan A. Toker, piano.
    Navona Records 6202
    Total Time:  56:35
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    As one listens to Hakan Toker’s album, it is reminiscent of many of those crossover albums that take familiar classical tunes and then add a decided jazz or ethnic spin to them.  That is indeed what is happening in his release, Messing Around…with the Classics.  Toker essentially presents a familiar theme and then begins his own free improvisation adding decided jazz stylings but also sometimes veering off into another piece.

    The opening “Elise’s Got The Blues” is an easy entry into Toker’s program as we move from a straight treatment of a familiar Beethoven theme into an often witty set of variations influenced by contemporary jazz with blues notes.  It even flirts a bit between the music hall and a late-night noir-ish bar setting.  “Gnossienne Czardas” is an example of the sort of other mashups that occur on the album as we go from Satie to Liszt colliding together.  Bach meets Mancini in the brief “Moon River Invention” and pops up later with a more jazz-like influence in “Toccata and Fugue in Blue”.  There is even an interesting take on Paul Desmond’s classic jazz album in “Take Five or More.”  The artist’s Turkish roots also help add unique color to these “interpretations” or “explorations”.  This comes to the forefront in the “Rondo Turchissimo” (based on Mozart’s familiar tune) and the closing “Istanbul Not Quite Constantinople”.  Mozart’s tune also gets a fun Latin version.  The decision to show these two sides of improvising Mozart with global musical ideas is important because it adds to the validity of what Toker is doing here while making for some rather fascinating music making.

    Overall, this is a great listen that recalls the work of Chick Corea, Jacques Loussier, and then takes off down roads that recall Tempo Libre’s blends of Cuban rhythms and Bach.  If all those are the sort of albums that are guilty pleasures, this one certainly can hold its place alongside them.  While Toker’s aesthetic seems to be one that focuses on where he might take a piece on a certain day or time, this is at least one snapshot of his approach.  Most likely these improvisational directions would change each time he decides to musically meditate and react to the musical ideas and themes of his chosen repertoire.