Country : United States Label : New Focus Recordings / Panoramic Genres and styles : Contemporary Jazz / Jazz Year : 2022

Timuçin Şahin – Funk Poems for Bird

· by Frédéric Cardin

If the most outstanding tributes to Charlie ”Bird” Parker formed a trilogy, we would have, in order, Anthony Braxton’s Charlie Parker Project, Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Bird Calls and, now, Timuçin Şahin’s Funk Poems for Bird. With Cory Smythe on piano, Reggie Washington on bass and Sean Rickman on drums, Şahin forms Flow State.

Flow State, the name of the band, sums up the organic, metamorphic nature of Şahin’s tribute to Parker with this album. A fluid parkour with constantly changing facets and interpenetration of influences that would not have displeased the master creator of Bebop. Scholarly and improvised music intertwine in a whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

There is the atonalism of 20th-century classical modernity (Varèse is cited in the booklet, but I also think of Ives and Ligeti), Bird’s bop, of course, Steve Coleman’s M-Base adventure, and funk (Şahin names Bird and James Brown as major influences in his life), woven, triturated, inter-grafted, and distilled into something unique that appeals to the serious and committed music lover. Parker calls for this: in constant search of evolution, he fed on tradition while embracing the sometimes radical modernity of the musical multiverse of his time (he was said to be a great admirer of Edgar Varèse).

The figure of alto saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker (1920-1955) is special: uniquely gifted, uniquely influential, uniquely troubled, he heard more future in the past, and pulled more of both into the present, than anyone else, before or since.

  • J. Martin Daughtry, album’s notes

Şahin’s often restless guitar swishes excitedly over a near-constant drum’n’bass/funky floor. Sean Rickman and Reggie Washington, two regulars on Steve Coleman’s M-Base, create an elastic rhythmic tapestry over which Smythe sprouts abstract, spontaneous piano inflorescences. A constantly quivering kaleidoscope is embodied as we are invited to be caught up in the ebb and flow of this passionate homage.

Latest 360 Content

Pro Musica | Marion Portelance and Emmanuel Charest, New Team on Fire

Pro Musica | Marion Portelance and Emmanuel Charest, New Team on Fire

Martin Saint – Seekers

Martin Saint – Seekers

Single of The Day: “Spirit Bomb” by Tucana

Single of The Day: “Spirit Bomb” by Tucana

Syli d’Or 2025 | Raíz Viva and Their Afro-Colombian Percussion

Syli d’Or 2025 | Raíz Viva and Their Afro-Colombian Percussion

Lucy Dacus – Forever Is A Feeling

Lucy Dacus – Forever Is A Feeling

Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power

Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power

The art of entertaining: according to Gang of Four

The art of entertaining: according to Gang of Four

Centre des Musiciens de Monde brings us the martial art of singing!

Centre des Musiciens de Monde brings us the martial art of singing!

Syli d’Or 2025 | Latin America in the final with MARZOS and MATEO

Syli d’Or 2025 | Latin America in the final with MARZOS and MATEO

Syli d’Or 2025 | Reunion Island in The Running with Kozé

Syli d’Or 2025 | Reunion Island in The Running with Kozé

Frank Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere + Apostrophe = Rox(Postroph)y played by Dweezil’s Band

Frank Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere + Apostrophe = Rox(Postroph)y played by Dweezil’s Band

Jaco – Plan F

Jaco – Plan F

JACO Intends to Succeed With Its Plan F

JACO Intends to Succeed With Its Plan F

The TWO, The Unlikely Blues Duo

The TWO, The Unlikely Blues Duo

Soir de jazz symphonique à Laval

Soir de jazz symphonique à Laval

Meggie Lennon – My Best Self

Meggie Lennon – My Best Self

Critique Love… Critical Minerals in Montreal’s Underground

Critique Love… Critical Minerals in Montreal’s Underground

The Mars Volta – Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio

The Mars Volta – Lucro sucio; Los ojos del vacio

Laurence Hélie – Tendresse et bienveillance

Laurence Hélie – Tendresse et bienveillance

From Zigaz to Charlie Juste

From Zigaz to Charlie Juste

FACS, WORKS, and DahL at Quai Des Brumes

FACS, WORKS, and DahL at Quai Des Brumes

Before Sitting Down Alone at The Piano, Ingrid St-Pierre Responds

Before Sitting Down Alone at The Piano, Ingrid St-Pierre Responds

Virginia MacDonald, clarinet rising soloist with ONJM

Virginia MacDonald, clarinet rising soloist with ONJM

Lionel Belmondo , Yannick Rieu and l’OSL: Symphonic Jazz Around Brahms, Ravel and Boulanger

Lionel Belmondo , Yannick Rieu and l’OSL: Symphonic Jazz Around Brahms, Ravel and Boulanger

Subscribe to our newsletter