Şenol Küçükyıldırım

Şenol was born in the year 1960 to musician parents in Istanbul. He picked up drumming very early thanks to his father who was a drummer. After finishing his primary studies, he studied violin at Istanbul State Conservatory and Art History at Istanbul University. During a performance with percussionist Okay Temiz, he met Don Cherry and was fascinated by him. This incident helped him discover new avenues in jazz and became an important factor in his decision to move to the United States. In 1985, he moved to the US and participated in George Russell’s ensemble classes in New England Conservatory’s “Third Stream” department while studying micro-tonal music with Joe Maneri. He also attended electronic music classes at Harvard University’s Pond building. He had the chance to perform in various locations in the US with the department head Ivan Tchrepnin and legendary John Cage. In the meantime, he continued to perform Free Jazz in Boston clubs. After these real life experiences he enrolled at Berklee and worked with prominent jazz musicians like Ian Froman (drums), Joe Hunt (drums), Jamey Haddad (percussion) and Giovanni Hidalgo (percussion) as well as having lessons with Ed Blackwell and Alan Dawson. One of his compositions was acclaimed by the faculty and was performed by the Berklee Rainbow Band. While attending Berklee, he continued to pursue his dream alongside Ornette Coleman and his friends in sessions at Coleman’s loft in New York. He played with masters such as Cecil Taylor, Bern Nix, Raphe Malik, Billy Higgins, Reggie Workman, Dewey Redman, Dave Liebman . He gave concerts in Boston with Aydın Esen, Onur Türkmen, Joshua Redman, John Lockwood, Wynton Marsalis, Avishai Cohen, Raqip Hassan, Joe Morris, Nate McBride, Michael Adkins, Jim Hobbes, Timo Shenko, Eric Zinman and many more. Şenol made his return to Turkey in 2000 following an offer to teach drums, jazz theory and ensemble classes at Yıldız Technical University. In 2002, he formed the “Şenol Küçükyıldırım Trio” with Aydın Esen and John Lockwood and performed at the 12th International Akbank Jazz Festival at Babylon Club in Istanbul. In the same year he performed there with Onur Türkmen and Robert Reigle with their trio called “Soundness”. In 2003, he performed with Tim Hodgkinson at Tophane-i Amire as part of Akbank Jazz Festival. With Yapı Kredi Bank as the sponsor, he gave concerts with Onur Türkmen and Robert Reigle at İstanbul Technical University’s MIAM (Center for Advanced Studies in Music).

He continued to participate in the Akbank Jazz Festival in the following year with Türkmen, Reigle and Selen Gülün in 2004 and with Aydin Esen in 2005. After two decades of working with musicians from a multitude of styles and genres, Şenol formed the band “Ways” with Şevket Akıncı and Murat Çopur and performed in the Akbank Jazz Festival in 2008. He still continued to work with other musicians and recorded the albums “Kar” and “Live in Istanbul” (released in Italy) with Irish guitarist Mark O’leary following a concert series in İstanbul. Later on, he recorded the album “Century” with Şevket Akıncı, Demirhan Baylan and Robert Reigle. In December 2011, he gave two concerts with pianist Dave Bryant (from Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time). Currently, he continues to perform in Istanbul with his new band “Weed” with Şevket Akıncı and Murat Çopur. Recently having finished recording an album with Weed, they have already started working on the next album called “Ghostwatch”. Şenol Küçükyıldırım continues to serve as faculty at Yıldız Technical University and Bilgi University in İstanbul. Show less