Ilhan Saferali

Ilhan Saferali is a young award winning jazz musician who is getting his name out on the NYC jazz scene as well as turning heads of many Jazz greats. Ilhan, playing trumpet and piano, has accomplished a lot for himself as a young musician. Ilhan has played with Grammy award wining musicians such as Chucho Valdes and Kamasi Washington, and has worked with the David Suzuki Foundation for their ECOmusicology project. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Ilhan is now based out of New York City to make a name for himself as an artist and to study at the prestigious jazz program at The New School under the presidential scholarship. Ilhan’s music style takes from classic jazz players such as Bill Evans and Miles Davis and is heavily influenced by modern jazz players such as Christian Scott. Ilhan has studied with world renowned jazz legends such as Emmet Cohen, Benny Benack, Jean-Michel Pilc, Christine Jensen, Brad Turner and many more. He’s been recognized by some of the greatest names in jazz such as Reggie Workman, Jimmy Owens, Joe Magnarelli and more as a special young talent. Ilhan has played at many notable jazz venues and festivals such as Frankie’s Jazz Club (Vancouver), The Jazz Bistro (Toronto) and The Vancouver International Jazz Festivals among many others. Ilhan now spends his time working on his craft, writing music, sitting in at local New York City jam sessions and working on building a name for himself in the New York Jazz scene. You can find Ilhan playing trumpet in New York City as part of veteran tenor saxophonist Eric Wyatt’s quintet, and playing solo piano Thursday through Saturday at the Walker Hotel in the West Village.