Guitarist Magazine Competition 2003
- Okan Ersan from North Cyprus, deserves a special mention for his technically brilliant piece which he performed expertly.
Mark Valantine / Promoter of the Kansas City Blues and Jazz Festival
- The highlight for me as musician as well as being the promoter was the final act of the two day event;Okan Ersan with the legendary Billy Paul.The 20 minutes of Mr.Ersan with the band before Billy Paul came on stage can be summed up with two words : World Class.
- Okan Ersan is session guitarist and group leader. His unique and discriminating way to combine Jazz-Fusion with solid Rock and Blues
components is captured on his recent released CD “To Whom it May Concern.
Eckhard Meszelinsky / Leverkusen Jazztage Promoter
- I invited him to come to the 27th Leverkusen Jazztage festival.He played at the same stage with one of the worlds famous guitar player’s, Al di Meola.After his concert Al di Meola and I thought that Okan Ersan is the one who will be one of the best fusion guitarists of the world. His music is a very individual mix; jazz,rock,blues,oriental and modern fusion.He is a very great musician and he would be a great part for each festival in the whole world.Oriental meets Fusion
A Reborn Journey Review by Bryan Rodgers
A Reborn Journey
Amidst the “here today, gone tomorrow” hot flash of the modern music industry, jazz and fusion have persevered. Neither commands the American consciousness, and neither is likely to revisit the creative and critical peak that they crested in the 1900’s. But thanks to artists like Northern Cyprus-born guitarist Okan Ersan the forms live on with vitality. Making a great album in a musical realm where most everything has been done time and time again isn’t easy, and A Reborn Journey is far from perfect. What it is, though, is encouraging and affirming, a reminder of the longevity, restlessness, and creativity of a truly American art form and the subsequent re-imagining that birthed fusion music.
One reason there is such possibility here is that Ersan traffics in such a relatively young format. There are fewer boundaries, and while some of the songs veer dangerously close to that non-fusion concoction known as “smooth” jazz, there’s nothing stale here. Also, Ersan’s unique cultural and musical upbringing gives the music a mystical, melodically challenging flair that helps to separate him and his band from the rest of the fusion heap. The best moments of A Reborn Journey occur when he’s doling out fiery solos tinged with a distinctly eastern shine. The impressive qualities of his playing unfold naturally, reflecting the indigenous music of his home region while remaining steadfastly modern and the effect is mesmerizing. Everything fusion lovers dig is heard at some point on A Reborn Journey: compositions that recall greats like Weather Report and Herbie Hancock, musicianship on par with Pat Metheny and Chick Corea, and the inimitable atmosphere of infinity perfected by groups like Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Frank Zappa.
The album is fusion through and through, but Ersan and his monster band are able to traverse styles within that framework. There’s a surprisingly funky, rock-oriented slant to much of the album along with the intrinsic eastern influence. “Robotech” and “Is This It” pounce upon the listener with heavy funk horns and daredevil guitar work, all solidified by the mellifluous rhythm section of Volkan Oktem (drums) and Eylem Pelit (bass). “Stand” is similarly funked up, and vocalist Ola Onabule turns the band into an accessible rock powerhouse with his easy, voluminous croon. “Abracadabra Master” and “Quantumising Myself” find the band venturing into a pulsating, synthesized space spiced with eastern percussion, Mediterranean melodic interplay, and even a bit of prog-rock loftiness. “Day By Day” matches more robust horn lines with bizarre and spine-tingling bass work. Pelit and Ersan work together to form a wicked dual-guitar team, then both indulge in adventurous solos. The band proves remarkably adept at matching Ersan’s complex, sometimes convoluted ideas, like the dizzying flute and guitar flights in “Mediterranean Breeze.” “Mediterranean Breeze” encapsulates the band’s sound more than any other track, featuring funk grooves, wild full-band movements, dramatic percussion, and dazzling individual work.
Sometimes, the stylistic hopping gets the band in trouble. Just about any time Ersan takes his foot off of the gas, the experience suffers. “Beautiful” features some pretty playing and a juicy trombone solo, but it sounds like something you’d hear backing up The Weather Channel local forecast. It’s a bit too Muzak and not nearly as interesting from a melodic standpoint as other tracks. “Don’t Go” is the album’s longest track and also its slowest, making for a laborious 8 minutes in the middle of an album that is about 20 minutes too long in the first place. But those are anomalies amidst the mostly intense, energizing music heard here. Overall, A Reborn Journey is a challenging, enjoyable album that bodes well for not only the future of Ersan, but the future of fusion itself.
Review by Bryan Rodgers
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)