36th Vilnius Jazz Festival. 12-16 October, 2022
Saadet Türköz / Urs Leimgruber Vilnius Jazz'2003
Saadet Türköz - Urs Leimgruber (Switzerland):

Saadet Türköz - voc
Urs Leimgruber - saxophones


Saadet Türköz - voc

Born 1961 in Istanbul. Lives in Zurich.

"Due to the political pressure of the Chinese government upon the Turk people in East Turkestan (Uyghur Autonomous Region), my parents fled to Istanbul, where they settled as Kazakh refugees.

They transmitted us the rich oral and musical traditions of the highlands of Central Asia. With the tales of their far away country and their journey to Turkey, the elderly people of the kasach community influenced my imagination as musician until nowadys.


As a child, living in Istanbul near the Marmara Sea, I wanted to be a hodscha, a coran teacher. I was fascinated by the arabic language and the melodious texts of the coran which gave me the first opportunity to deliberately improvise without paying attention to sense and correctness.

I was 20 years old, when I left Istanbul to join my sister in Switzerland. There I experienced an exciting new world of music: free jazz, improvisation and a refreshing openness towards experimentation which parallelled my unbiased approach of the musical traditions of my origins.

In my improvisations as well as performances of Kazakh and Turkish songs I am looking to transform memory. I seek to evoke pictures and atmosphere by means of voice and music which transcend cultural boundaries. Memory is everywhere and every time the same - not changeable - but the expression is different: Individual perception develops a universal impression of the cultural life.

In addition to my frequent solo concerts, I regularly perform in duos, trios or bigger formations with free improvising jazz musicians - such as Martin Schuetz, Elliot Sharp, Werner Luedi, Eyvind Kang, Voice Crack- Nobert Moeslang&Andy Guhl, Peter Kowald, Gianni Gebbia, Michael Zerang, Carl Ruediger, Urs Leimgruber, Ikue Mori, the Koch-Schuetz-Studer Trio, Nils Wogram, Pascal Schaer, Mark Dresser, Miya Masaoka, Fred Frith, Xu Feng Shia, the Black Sea Trio, Mich Gerber, Yagi Michiyo, Carl Stone, Fritz Hauser, Peter Scharli, Peggy Lee, Alex Cline, Larry Ochs, Jaques Widmer, Satoshi Takeishi, Graham Haynes, Co Streiff, Okkyung Lee, Gunter Muller, Eric M, Makigami Koichi.." - Saadet Türköz


A selection of solo concerts:


International biennial Art Exhibition Istanbul Agia Irini, International music festival in Sao Paulo, Jazz Festival Mulhouse, Steirischer Herbst Graz, Women in Jazz festival in Zurich, Synagogue Uilenburg Amsterdam, Musikakademie Rheinsberg Berlin, Art Museum Thun, Roulette New York, Bayern Radio München, Festival de la Batille Geneva, Plasy Monastery Prag, Spruce Street Forum San Diego, Eagle Rock Club Los Angeles, Philarmony Almaty, 1500 City Turkistan's Birthday Turkistan, Kyzylorda Music University, Luggage Store Gallery San Francisco, Earshot Portland, Tvva Space, Berkeley Folkclub Turin, Ispay Seattle, Artmuseum Zürich, ETH Technical University Zürich, Cultur Centrum Nürnberg, Komponisten House Moscow, Journalisten House Moscow, Muha Cultur Centrum Moskow, Skif Festival Moscow...


A selection of concerts with different musicians:

Elliott Sharp, git, Gianni Gebba, sax, - Curvo Minore Musik Festival Palermo,

Elliott Sharp, git - festival Druga Godba Ljubjana, Ear&Now Swiss American New Music Festival New York, Shafhausen Jazz Festival, Babylon Istanbul, Gruppe Roksanaky Alem Sanniyaz Festival Almaty Philharmony etc.

Elliott Sharp, git, Eyvind Kang, viola, - American&Asian Jazz Festival Chicago, Fritz Hauser, drum, Andreas Parkins, acc. - Tonic New York etc.

Werner Luedi, sax, - Canaille Festival Frankfurt, etc.

Martin Schuetz, cello, - Red Factory Zurich, Festival Grim Marseille, etc.

Pascal Schaer, trombone, - International Documentary Film Festival Nyon.



Urs Leimgruber - saxophones, composer

Born in Lucern, 1952.

Urs Leimgruber has been active for many years in the areas of contemporary improvisation, composition, jazz and new music.

One of his earliest associations was as a member of the electric jazz/free music group Om with Christy Doran, Fredy Study and Bobbi Burri, and he later formed the 'Reflexionen' quartet with Bobby Burri in New York.

More recently, his own projects have included 'Ensemble Bleu'; the 'LSM' trio with Patrick Scheyder and Francois Moutin; as well as a long association with Fritz Hauser: as a duo with the ongoing Music for saxophone and percussion; in the Leimgruber/Roidinger/Hauser trio; a trio with Jöelle Léandre; and a trio with Marilyn Crispell. Urs Leimgruber has also performed extensively as a solo artist and has been involved in mixed media presentations, providing music for dance, radio plays and film.

Urs Leimgruber has undertaken concert tours in Western and Eastern Europe, USA, Canada and South America, and appeared at concerts and on recordings with such musicians as Steve Lacy, Tim Berne, Joe McPhee, Christy Doran, Francoise Kubler, Louis Sclavis, Hans Koch, Bobby Burri, Pauline Oliveros, Ives Robert, Daunik Lazro, Harry Sparnaay, Jacques Demierre, Don Friedman, Herb Robertson, Trilok Gurtu, and Steve Argüelles.

He has been involved in performances of compositions by Walter Fähndrich, Edu Haubensak, Mani Planzer, Maria de Alvear. Though born in Lucern, Urs Leimgruber has been living in Paris since 1988.

Among his honors are the Anerkennungspreis from the city of Lucerne (1977), fellowships from the Dienemann Kulturstiftung (1988, Lucerne) and the cultural department of the canton and city of Lucerne (1994) and an award for his entire oeuvre from the Aargauer Kuratorium (1999). He has received commissions from the Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia and the Kunstverein Heidelberg.

In the 1970s, he co-founded the electric jazz/free music ensemble OM. Since then, he has been active as an improviser and has collaborated with Jacques Demierre, Michel Doneda, Fred Frith, Fritz Hauser, Joëlle Léandre, Günter Müller, Lauren Newton, Barre Phillips, and Keith Rowe.

He has composed much music for the saxophone, including several commissioned works for the ARTE Saxophone Quartet, and he has also done projects with the wind quintet of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Ensemble Bleu. In addition, he has collaborated with Maria de Alvear, Elena Andreyev, Tim Berne, Jaap Blonk, Jérôme Bourdellon, Bobby Burri, John Butcher, Leonzio Cherubini, Günter Christmann, Jim Denley, Christy Doran, Tadashi Endo, Walter Fähndrich, and Pierre Favre.

Other collaborators include Rico Gubler, Edu Haubensak, Fred van Hove, Felix-Philipp Ingold, Garth Knox, Hans M. Koch, Francoise Kübler, Fine Kwiatkowski, Steve Lacy, Joe McPhee, Mela Meierhans, Klaus Merz, Phil Minton, Ernesto Molinari, Sunny Murray, and Pauline Oliveros. Lastly, he has worked with Terry Riley, Elke Schipper, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Martin Schütz, Louis Sclavis, Bettina Skrzypczak, Harry Sparnaay, Fredy Studer, Mark Tompkins, Saadet Türkös, Roger Turner, Rolf Winnewisser, and Otomo Yoshihide.

© Jûratë Kuèinskaitë

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