Three of Us

This is the second album released by The Secret Trio, the follow-up to Soundscapes in 2012. The New York-based band brings together three brilliant, inventive instrumentalists with roots in three important traditions: the Ottoman/Turkish music of kanun (zither) player Tamer Pınarbaşı; Macedonian Roma roots from clarinettist İsmail Lumanovski (of New York Gypsy All-Stars fame); and Armenian oud (lute) from composer Ara Dinkjian, whose seminal band Night Ark pioneered Eastern jazz fusions. Dinkjian also penned masterful songs that became hits in Greece and Turkey, and his ‘Vazgeçtim’ was sung by the queen of Turkish pop music, Sezen Aksu; she makes a guest appearance here on ‘Benim Karanlık Yanım’. Her voice is not in its prime but her charisma remains intact in what sounds almost like a goodbye song (it also closes the album in an instrumental version). Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya gave the most celebrated performance of Dinkjian's ‘Ağladıkça’, a beautiful ballad, which is graced here by the contribution of a different luminary of Turkish music, guitarist Erkan Oğur. The trio launch themselves into some spirited improvisations during the classic folk song ‘Sinanay’ (another Aksu hit) and, despite the lack of percussion, always manages to keep the rhythmic momentum going thanks to the driving basslines from oud and kanun. Three of Us is a richly textured and satisfying listen.