JEF GIANSILY

Jef Giansily (1980) is a French piano player who currently resides in Istanbul. Upon finding himself dancing to the sound of the dishwasher at the age of 1 and listening to his father’s records until they were worn thin, music has been at the center of his preoccupation since then. In 2003 he graduates from the Bill Evans Piano Academy of Paris under the direction of Bernard Maury with a specialization in jazz pedagogy. The same year, he starts performing regularly in a prestigious jazz club of Istanbul, where he accompanies visiting American soloists for three years. As a leader of his trio and other combos, he performs in several jazz festivals of Europe and Turkey, such as North Sea Jazz Festival, Bratislava Jazz Days, Izmir & Ankara Jazz Fest …. Last winter, he records his first solo album along with Kagan Yildiz & Ferit Odman entitled Sketches, which offers a set of original compositions by the pianist and a tribute to Martial Solal, an emblematic figure of jazz in his home country. The album is released on the label Circle, which he founds in order to capture encounters between improvising musicians of varied horizons. Jef Giansily is currently a piano and music theory teacher in EFMI, the francophone music school of Istanbul, based in the French Cultural Center. 'Sketches' featuring Sarp Maden,gtr Sibel Köse vcl, Engin Recepoğulları, s.sax. Released in June 2009.