Metin Yilmaz Quartet

Artists

METIN TILMAZ bilûr, kaval (traditional flute)
MATT MCMAHON piano, keyboard
JODIE MICHAEL drums
STEVE ELPHICK double bass 

Anatolian Breeze

A world between compositions, improvisations and traditions.

The music of the Metin Yilmaz Quartet unfurls like a breath from the mountains — carried by the mystical voice of the Bilûr/Kaval, the ancient flute of Metin’s homeland.

Featuring Metin Yilmaz on Bilûr/Kaval flute, along with Matt McMahon (piano/keyboard), Jodie Michael (drums), and Steve Elphick (double bass), the quartet shapes a sound that is both contemporary and timeless, blending Anatolian and Kurdish traditional music with jazz improvisation, reflecting a fusion of cultural heritage and contemporary expression.     

PROGRAM

Set 1:
Metin YILMAZ Ripples of love     

Traditional Kurdish Arix

Traditional Kurdish Xemili Zozan         

Metin YILMAZ Flying over Ararat

Traditional Armenian Adana 

Set 2:
Metin YILMAZ  
Dance of Lovers        
Zeman        
Nalin
Reflection
Journey to Innerself
Smile of the Xatun

Traditional Anatolian Böyle ikrar 

Indicative Set List only – program includes improvisation and can be adjusted to suit venue needs. 
Typically performed as two 45min sets.

About the Artists

Metin Yilmaz stands as a distinguished master of the Kaval, the ancient flute whose haunting tones have echoed through mountains and memories for centuries. A devoted student of Ustad Sinan Celik and Osman Aktas - Turkey’s foremost Kaval masters and pioneering producers - Metin embodies a tradition rooted in his Kurdish heritage and shaped by years of performance across Turkey, Europe, and Australia.
Having spent a decade in Cologne collaborating with musicians and projects across Europe, Metin now brings forth a sound he has cultivated over many years: a sonic world described as transformative, meditative, and deeply captivating, realised through his new Quartet and its symbiotic blend of innovation and heritage. From the highlands of Anatolia to the concert halls of Europe and the wide skies of Australia, his artistry has resonated across cultures and generations. His presence on both stage and studio has earned him recognition as one of the foremost living interpreters of the Kaval’s timeless spirit."

Matt McMahon is a Sydney-based pianist/composer who has been active since 1993. He has won awards – including the National Jazz Award (1999), Freedman Jazz Fellowship (2005), and appears on several Aria and Bell award-winning albums. He leads his own groups and works in collaboration with many of Australia’s most respected musicians, performing within Australia and internationally. He has released ten albums as a leader or co-leader and appears on over one hundred albums of original creative music. His compositions and improvisations are featured on many of these albums. He has performed with some of Australia’s most distinguished musicians and groups – Band of Five Names, Vince Jones, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Dale Barlow, Joseph Tawadros, Gurrumul, Bernie McGann, Katie Noonan, Jonathan Zwartz, Steve Hunter, Jamie Oehlers, Emma Pask, Simon Barker, Andrea Keller, Sandy Evans, Carl Dewhurst, and Phil Slater. Matt has acted as musical director for many shows and performances which have included artists such as Kate Miller-Heidke, Wendy Matthews, Melinda Schneider, Iota, Ella Hooper etc. Matt has performed with many visiting artists on their Australian tours including - Wynton Marsalis, Veronica Swift, Bobby Previte, Greg Osby, Sharon Shannon, Bob Hurst, Aaron Goldberg, Mary Coughlan, etc.

Steven Elphick has been active on the Australian creative music scene since the late seventies. He has performed with many of the seminal groups of the 80s and 90s and 2000s under the direction of such composers and improvisers as Mark Simmonds, Roger Frampton, Phil Treloar, Sandy Evans, Tony Gorman, Peter Dasent, Andrew Robson, James Greening and Miro Bukovsky, as well as Cleis Pearce, Greg Sheehan, Steve Berry, and Matt Keegan’s Three Seas group. He was a long-time member of multi award-winning groups Mara! (24 years) and Ten Part Invention ( 38 years). From 1981 to 2017, Steven performed in Musica Viva Australia in Schools, with the aim of helping to make the music-making process accessible to all.

Jodie Michael is an accomplished drummer and has had the privilege of playing with the following world-class Australian musicians: James Muller, James Morrison, Dale Barlow, Clayton Doley, Bobby Gebert, Katie Noonan, Carl Dewhurst, Craig Scott, Sandy Evans, Matt McMahon, Mimi Jones (USA), Camille Thurman (USA), Ingrid Jensen (USA), Andre Hayward (USA), Will Vinson (USA).
In 2011, she travelled to New York, to study with world-class international drummers, including Michael Carvin. Jodie was the recipient of the 2013 Jann Rutherford Memorial Award, named in honour of the late jazz pianist Jann Rutherford. Jodie continued to further her career in Australia and overseas, predominantly in New York, where she has stayed for stints of varying lengths, in 2013, 2014 and 2017 to accumulate performance experience and continue her study and with Carvin, as well as Greg Hutchinson, Billy Hart, Kenwood Dennard and Bernard Purdie.

In Fall 2018, Jodie was accepted into Berklee College of Music’s Global Jazz Masters program, mentored by Danilo Pérez and Marco Pignataro. In October 2018, with Perez and a group selected from the Global Jazz Institute, she was invited to partake in a tour of New Orleans, and later the 2019 Panama Jazz Festival and the inaugural collaborative GAIA ensemble in Amsterdam. While based in New York City in March 2020, she took part in a tour with Ellen Stein Collective featuring Ingrid Jensen, in major venues around Detroit/Ann Arbor, Michigan USA. She continued to work as an active improvising musician, bandleader and educator before returning to Sydney. She plans to release a compilation of live trio recordings, featuring Sydney-based musicians, from 2017-2018. She was featured in a quintet in November 2023, performing during the Sunday jazz program at renowned Bennelong restaurant, Sydney Opera House. In January-February 2024, she was a featured musician in a new Sydney Festival-commissioned work by Alana Valentine, dir. Liesel Badorrek, “Send For Nellie”. She is returning to the east coast USA in late-2024, as well as pursuing a doctoral/research degree focusing on identity, creativity and the role instrumentation plays in a culture's artistic expressions. "