Projects

Ud player and composer Mehmet Polat brings on board three virtuosos of jazz and world music to form his new quartet: Mike Roelofs on piano, Martin Hafizi on drums and Daniel van Huffelen on double bass. The quartet blends jazz with rich musical traditions from Polat’s many previous crossover projects.

The crossover-inspired compositions spring into existence through contemplation, experiments, emotions, adventure and virtuosity. Polat finds a certain freedom in diverging from simple time signatures into complex ‘odd meters’ like the 5/4, 7/4 and 9/8 found in non-Western music. The drums and double bass provide a rhythmical fundament for melodic ud and piano lines. Each of the musicians brings an individual musical sensibility, creativity and freshness to interpreting and performing the works. Collectively they make the whole much more than a sum of the parts.

The Mehmet Polat Quartet’s debut album, Embodied Poetry will be released in June 2023.