Hakan A. Toker Messing Around With Classics

Music is a game we play. Of course it has rules, like all games-but not to be confused with penal legislation! It is to be respected, but not to be taken too seriously. It belongs to all of us. It is ours to create and re-create, to mess around with, as long as we give credit. Messing around with a piece of music doesn’t ruin the original. It is just a new suggestion alongside the old: Take it, or leave it-nothing lost.

The fact is, everything new or “original” is but a new reordering of preexisting things. It is impossible to create anything new without fiddling with the old!

A performer is a bridge between the composer and listener; the connector between the creator and perceiver. It is a very important role! But, a performer is not quite as part of the game as an improvising performer. I like to play familiar tuns, because people connect with them immediately. Then I like to mess around with them, because that was I get to connect with people-more so than I would if I were merely a performer.

This album contains tunes familiar to most mainstream music lovers. Alas, it is only a small bunch of tunes that will sound the same way each time you play the album! I want to connect with YOU, in real time, playing your favorite tune a new way each time. So please, join me on my bilingual Wednesday Facebook livestreams (facebook.com/hakan.a.toker.7) and throw me a theme to improvise on-unless you have the means to invite me over to do it live.

-Hakan A. Toker

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Arranger & Pianist

Hakan A. Toker

Ludwig Van Beethoven

1. Elise’s Got The Blues - 6:26

Eric Satie

2. Gnossienne Czardas - 6:11

Henry Mancini

3. Moon River Invention - 1:52

Hubert Giraud

4. Sous Le Ciel De Versailles - 5:21
   Hakan A. Toker - harpsichord

Johann Sebastian Bach

5. Toccata & Fugue In Blue - 9:23
   Hakan Çetinkaya - drums

Paul Desmond

6. Take Five Or More - 4:55
   Gürkan Özkan - tabla

Antonín Dvořák

7. When My Ma’ Sings To Me - 4:58
   Mehmet Sönmez - double bass
   Hakan Çetinkaya - drums

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

8. Rondo Turchissimo - 5:57
   Aykut Sütoğlu - clarinet in B flat
   Vedat Dinlelitir - zurna
   Bilal Kızıllar - kanun
   Tolga Karaslan - ud
   Mehmet Sönmez - double bass
   İsmail Darıcı, Hakan Çetinkaya - hand percussions

9. Rondo Alla Latino - 5:50
   Ömer Dağasan, Enes Nalbant - trumpets in B flat
   Begüm Gökmen - french horn in F
   Burak Dursun - trombone
   Ertan Şahin - tuba
   İsmail Darıcı - hand percussion
   Hakan Çetinkaya - drums

Nat Simon

10. Istanbul Not Quite Constantinople - 5:41
    Aykut Sütoğlu - clarinet in B flat
    Bilal Kızıllar - kanun
    Tolga Karaslan - ud
    Mehmet Sönmez - double bass
    İsmail Darıcı - hand percussion

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Many Thanks to…

Mom, Dad, my brothers (Belkıs, Kiper, and Serkan Toker); Aydın Soysal; Doug Hofstadter; Emin Hitay; Erol Memioğlu; Fırat & Murat Balkan; Jane Hewitt & Richard Small; Mustafa Çamlıca; Müzeyyen & Baybars Oral; Ralph Herman Sr. and Yavuz Berber for their generous support!

…and to Matej Meštrović for introducing me to PARMA Recordings and for all the good advice.

All Tracks recorded and mixed spring 2018 by Hakan Çetinkaya at H&H Studios in Istanbul, Turkey.

All track names have been altered slightly from their original titles, to reflect the nature of the derivative arrangements.

Photography: Alperen Koza

Additional Credits

Track 3
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Lyricist: Johnny Mercer

Track 4
Publisher: Paul de Choudens
Lyricist: Jean Dréjac

Track 6
Publisher: Warner / Chappell
Lyricist: Jimmy Kennedy

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Executive Producer: Bob Lord
Executive A&R: Sam Renshaw
A&R: Chris Robinson
Audio Director: Jeff LeRoy
Production Engineer: Lucas Paquette
Mastering: Shaun Michaud
Art Director: Brett Picknell
Design: Ryan Harrison, Edward Fleming
Publicity: Scott Feldman, Patrick Niland