Biography

Bassist, composer, and arranger Alper Yılmaz started playing guitar at the age of 10 and took electric bass as his main instrument in 1993. As a bassist, he performed regularly with the most prominent jazz musicians in Turkey during 1993-1995 period, including the Tuna Ötenel and Janusz Szprot Orchestras. As a sideman, he also recorded with Tuna Ötenel in his 1995 record Sometimes from Uzelli Records. Around this time, he appeared on several broadcasts on the national Turkish Radio & Television, and he hosted a radio show named “Jam Session” on Radio METU in Ankara, Turkey.

During his studies at University of California, Davis for a Ph.D. in economics (1995-2000), Alper Yılmaz played with the UC Davis Jazz Band. In California, he also performed with the internationally renowned saxophonists Mike McMullen (Dave Liebman, Ray Charles, Randy Brecker, Sonny Fortune, Manhattan Transfer, Diane Schuur, Natalie Cole, Kenny Wheeler) and John Tchicai (John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, John Lennon), as well as guitarist Dave Lynch and many other jazz musicians.

Since his arrival in New York in December 2000, Alper Yılmaz has established himself as a promising and active player of his generation on the local scene. He has attended workshops by John Patitucci, studied jazz music theory with Matthew Garrison, and took private classes from Adam Rogers and David Binney. He also studied improvisation with Antonio Hart, and arrangement and composition with Michael Mossman at the Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music.

Currently, Alper Yılmaz works as free-lance bass player and performs regularly with his Project including David Binney, Michael McGinnis, Nick Kadajski, Arun Luthra, Erik Deutsch, Matthias Bublath, Nir Felder, Vinnie Sperrazza and Mark Dodge in New York, and Sarp Maden and Volkan Öktem in Turkey. Alper Yılmaz released his debut recording Clashes in August 2007, featuring Michael McGinnis on soprano saxophone and clarinet, David Binney and Nick Kadajski on alto saxophones, Jon Davis and Matthias Bublath on keyboards, and Andy Sanesi and Volkan Öktem on drums. In 2007, he also recorded with Dan Schlessinger for Dan’s upcoming album “Atlas.”