The On the Edges series is planned to visit five regions inside and outside the European Union. The members of the TransEuropeExpress Ensemble and invited guest artists draw creative energy from the interplay and fusion of their musical languages to paint a colorful, richly layered picture of European jazz, while making palpable the clash of musical elements and cultures. The fourth episode of the series focuses on Turkey: the guest of Oriental Express is Burcu Karadağ, an internationally renowned master and ambassador of the ney flute. The ney is a key instrument in Oriental and Turkish music – so much so that its scales are named after various types of ney flutes –, and even the spiritual and meditative practices of Sufism would be unimaginable without it. Between 2021 and 2024, Lüdemann spent multiple artist residencies in Turkey, and his encounter with the ney, which differs radically from the Western flute in both its playing technique and sound, provided him with points of connection to Turkish music while also prompting him to seek new compositional approaches – first as Karadağ’s duet partner, and later by involving her in the work of On the Edges. The pieces on the album are not directly based on traditional music, but rather Lüdemann’s personal impressions from Turkey, translated into material that allows the magic of the ney to unfold in all its splendor.

Hans Lüdemann has appeared on eleven BMC Records albums over more than a decade. Two albums by Rooms, the trio that forms the core of TransEuropeExpress, were released in 2010 and 2017, and it was also represented on the five-disc release Die Kunst des Trios, organized around Lüdemann. What makes the TransEuropeExpress octet special is not only its large size but also its membership: alongside founder Hans Lüdemann, the majority of the musicians are German and French, which, like the co-productions of the Jazzdor festival, has played a pioneering role in advancing jazz music relations between the two nations. The lineup is composed entirely of creative soloists: Régis Huby, Alexandra Grimal, Angelika Niescier, Yves Robert, Ronny Graupe, Clara Däubler, and Dejan Terzic. The band made their debut with the 2018 album Polyjazz, and began recording On the Edges in 2019. The previous three parts of the series were also released on BMC Records: the critically acclaimed Maghreb Express (2022) with Majid Bekkas, Polar Express (2023) with Kalle Kalima and Sofia Jernberg, and, most lately, Roman Express (2023) featuring Rita Marcotulli és Luciano Biondini, which was nominated for the German Jazz Prize.